0:00:02 > 0:00:08I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America
0:00:08 > 0:00:10with a new travelling companion.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Published in 1879, my Appletons' General Guide
0:00:17 > 0:00:20will steer me to everything that's novel,
0:00:20 > 0:00:22beautiful,
0:00:22 > 0:00:23memorable
0:00:23 > 0:00:26or curious in the United States.
0:00:26 > 0:00:27- ALL:- Amen!
0:00:29 > 0:00:33As I cross the continent, I'll discover America's Gilded Age,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom
0:00:37 > 0:00:41that tied the nation together and carved out its future
0:00:41 > 0:00:43as a superpower.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16My journey continues south to Washington, DC -
0:01:16 > 0:01:22the centre of political power in the world's most powerful country.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Founded on a compromise, built on a greenfield site,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28torched by the British,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33it rose from the ashes to become a capital of fine public architecture,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35monuments and memorials
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and the city where the president who divided America,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40but saved the Union,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42met a theatrical death.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57I began this journey in Philadelphia -
0:01:57 > 0:01:59the cradle of American independence -
0:01:59 > 0:02:03continued to the American Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg
0:02:03 > 0:02:06and turned south to Baltimore in Maryland.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Ahead of me, lie both the capital of the nation and the capital
0:02:11 > 0:02:14of the state of Virginia, Richmond.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I'll finish in one of the oldest settlements in North America -
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Jamestown.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25On this leg, I'll explore Washington in the district of Columbia,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27visit the neighbourhood of U Street
0:02:27 > 0:02:30and the area of Georgetown,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33before leaving the capital to head south into the state of Virginia,
0:02:33 > 0:02:37calling at the former slave-trading port of Alexandria,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40and finishing my journey at the home of the first president
0:02:40 > 0:02:42of the United States.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45HORN BLARES
0:02:47 > 0:02:51'Along the way, I'll pick up some spending money...'
0:02:51 > 0:02:54This bundle is 80,000.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I've never held anything like that much money in my life!
0:02:59 > 0:03:03'..discover how the man credited with saving the nation
0:03:03 > 0:03:05'tragically met his end...'
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Booth was able to walk right behind the president
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and fired a shot that hit him right behind the left ear.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18'..hear about the sordid reality of the slave trade...'
0:03:18 > 0:03:21While you're selling produce and other goods, you're selling humans.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24'..and get to grips with American archaeology.'
0:03:24 > 0:03:25SMASH!
0:03:25 > 0:03:27- I'm so sorry...- It's OK!
0:03:27 > 0:03:30The wretched handle came off. THEY CHUCKLE
0:03:30 > 0:03:32HORN BLARES
0:03:38 > 0:03:41I'm approaching Washington, following a recommended
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Appletons' route along what was the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52According to Appletons', "Washington's site is admirable.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58"Consisting of an undulating plain diversified by irregular elevations,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00"which furnish advantageous positions
0:04:00 > 0:04:03"for the various public buildings.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07"The plan of the city is unique and on a scale which shows that it
0:04:07 > 0:04:12"was expected that a vast metropolis would grow up there."
0:04:12 > 0:04:16The Founding Fathers foresaw the greatness of the United States
0:04:16 > 0:04:20and planned a capital that would rival any European one
0:04:20 > 0:04:23in terms of scale, grandeur and prestige.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32'You have arrived at Washington Union Station.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34'Please watch your step.'
0:04:39 > 0:04:41At the beginning of the 20th century,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45a new master plan was developed for Washington, DC, to make the city
0:04:45 > 0:04:51even more beautiful, and as part of that, a new Union Station,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55bringing together in one place, the Pennsylvania
0:04:55 > 0:04:57and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads,
0:04:57 > 0:05:01in a building of suitable magnificence.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Or, you might even say, "over-the-topness".
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Despite the early-20th-century facelift,
0:05:10 > 0:05:15at only 100 years old, Washington was a relatively young city.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Following independence from the British,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20the newly formed nation of the United States
0:05:20 > 0:05:24couldn't agree on which metropolis should be the seat of government.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28So, a purpose-built capital was founded in 1790.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Conspiracy theorists say that the layout of Washington
0:05:34 > 0:05:37contains hidden Masonic symbols.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41I can't see any, but many of the Founding Fathers were Freemasons,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43including George Washington.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47'To find out how this city came into being,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51'I'm heading to Freedom Plaza to meet Jane Freundel Levey
0:05:51 > 0:05:55'of the Historical Society of Washington.'
0:05:55 > 0:05:57- Hello, Jane.- Hello, it's so nice to see you.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Very good to see you.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02And I see we've got a map of Washington laid out before us.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04- We do indeed.- Shall we stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue
0:06:04 > 0:06:06- towards the White House? - Let's do that.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09In the beginning, why was Washington, DC,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11chosen as the place for the capital?
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Washington was chosen as a political compromise.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17We had a young nation, it had no money
0:06:17 > 0:06:20and we had a revolutionary war to pay off.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23The South were not so willing to pay off the debts of the North,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26where most of the battles took place,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28unless they got something in return.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31And what they got in return was the opportunity for the capital
0:06:31 > 0:06:33to be in, what was considered then, the South.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38That founding compromise was achieved by the man after whom
0:06:38 > 0:06:40the city is named -
0:06:40 > 0:06:43the first president of the United States.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47George Washington saw that the nation's capital needed to be
0:06:47 > 0:06:51on a river that would connect to what was going to be the nation.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53In other words, a river that connected to the West
0:06:53 > 0:06:55and that's what the Potomac River did.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57It connected to the Ohio River which took us out to the West
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and that's how he saw the new empire growing.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04- And who actually planned it? - The city plan itself,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07was done by Peter L'Enfant, sometimes know as Pierre,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10he was of French origin and he was an American citizen, he was an
0:07:10 > 0:07:12engineer who had
0:07:12 > 0:07:14grown up near Versailles and had
0:07:14 > 0:07:16certainly imbibed the principles of
0:07:16 > 0:07:19baroque planning from Europe.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21And he applied them to this new enterprise.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23L'Enfant wanted his city to be
0:07:23 > 0:07:26a republican city, and not an imperial city.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29So did George Washington, too, for that matter,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32which meant he wanted the baroque style of open boulevards
0:07:32 > 0:07:34and access to the government.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38In 1791, a diamond of land, ten miles squared,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42was carved out of the states of Virginia and Maryland to become
0:07:42 > 0:07:46the federal capital and the seat of the national government.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49We've ended our journey down Pennsylvania Avenue,
0:07:49 > 0:07:50we've arrived in the White House.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Would you join me in the Blue Room?
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Yes, my favourite, the Blue Room! Thank you.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Appletons' informs me,
0:07:58 > 0:08:03"The public buildings are the chief attraction of Washington.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06"The White House, as the president's official residence,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08"represents the executive branch of
0:08:08 > 0:08:10"the United States Federal Government.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14"The legislative branch of Congress is based at the Capitol
0:08:14 > 0:08:18"and the judiciary is housed in the Supreme Court Of Justice."
0:08:19 > 0:08:23Around the time of my Appletons' Guide, another grand building
0:08:23 > 0:08:26was being constructed - the Library Of Congress.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29And I can't resist taking a look.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35It was established as a resource for members of Congress.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Over the years, it has become the national library
0:08:39 > 0:08:41and any book published under US copyright
0:08:41 > 0:08:43has to be deposited here.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46It's now the largest library in the world.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Washington is home to the federal government
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and to lobbying groups and embassies.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57It hosts the headquarters of many international organisations
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and here, too, are the institutions that manage the economy
0:09:00 > 0:09:02and issue the money.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07It's always struck me as odd that all American banknotes
0:09:07 > 0:09:10are the same size, whatever denomination.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12But they do help you to learn American history.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16On the 20, we've got Andrew Jackson.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19On the 10, we've got Alexander Hamilton.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Good old Abraham Lincoln on the 5
0:09:21 > 0:09:24and George Washington on the single dollar bill.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Established around the time of my guidebook,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40the Bureau Of Engraving And Printing is noted in my Appletons'
0:09:40 > 0:09:43as being "of much interest to visitors".
0:09:43 > 0:09:47I imagine that few 19th-century tourists would have had access
0:09:47 > 0:09:51to the printing presses that produce the famous greenback.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Show me the money!
0:09:57 > 0:10:01The dollar must be the currency that most circulates on earth.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Some of these 20 bills will, undoubtedly,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06find their way around the globe.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09The dollar, economically speaking,
0:10:09 > 0:10:10makes the world go round.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Paper money was first issued by the federal government
0:10:16 > 0:10:20at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31These government IOUs floated the Union side through the conflict.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40'Mike Duberowski is a pressman supervisor.'
0:10:40 > 0:10:43So, Mike, in this room behind me is wire fences -
0:10:43 > 0:10:47I guess we're at quite a late process in the printing of the money.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Yes, um, this area here is called COPE PAK.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53COPE PAK stands for Currency Overprinting Equipment and Packaging.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56And what sort of quantities are you going to be running?
0:10:56 > 0:10:58We have a 200,000 process.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00That means we print 200,000 32-subject sheets
0:11:00 > 0:11:01in a process.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04200,000 times 32...
0:11:05 > 0:11:09..bills. And here you deal with, what, 5s, 10s, 20s...?
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Yes. This press, here, can print any denom.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15How do you feel working with money like this all the time?
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Um, very exciting, it's a very rewarding job...
0:11:18 > 0:11:22You know that this product will go out all over the world.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30As these packages come out, they have to be checked at either end
0:11:30 > 0:11:33to make sure the seal is good and that the numbers match.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36This bundle is 80,000.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39I've never held anything like that much money in my life!
0:11:43 > 0:11:45To deter counterfeiting,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48some hi-tech features are incorporated into each note.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52For example, microprinting, a security thread or a watermark.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58'But at the heart of the process are skill and attention to detail.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03'Will Fleishell has been a picture engraver here for 28 years.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:04Will, excuse me.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06- Ah!- I'm Michael. - Michael, pleasure. Will.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08What are you working on there?
0:12:08 > 0:12:11This is a portrait of Frederick Douglass who was the great
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Civil War era abolitionist.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Are these also examples of your work?
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Yes, there's Benjamin Franklin,
0:12:18 > 0:12:19Mark Twain.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23There's a portrait of Lincoln that's on the current 5 bill.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26How do you feel about the fact that every time you pick up
0:12:26 > 0:12:27a 5 bill your work is there?
0:12:27 > 0:12:29It is impressive.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32It's nice to think about in those quiet moments...
0:12:32 > 0:12:37That your work is in a lot of wallets around the world.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40So, that's quite an accomplishment for an artist.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43What is it that you're doing and what is this material?
0:12:43 > 0:12:48This is soft steel and I can cut into it with
0:12:48 > 0:12:50what we call gravers or burins.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55The design of this tool has not changed significantly in 500 years.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59This is the sort of exquisite, painstaking work
0:12:59 > 0:13:00that I can't understand.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03I just don't have anything like the patience.
0:13:03 > 0:13:04Every portrait that I work on,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08I try to sort of put myself into the shoes of the subject
0:13:08 > 0:13:11to try to empathise, in a sense, with the person.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14What were you wanting to convey with this mouth and these eyes?
0:13:14 > 0:13:18To convey a sort of faraway look of the future, he could see ahead.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20I think you certainly achieved it. It's wonderful.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Thank you. Thank you very much.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33A city at the heart of money and power must guard against
0:13:33 > 0:13:35excess and corruption.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Keeping those in authority in check is the American press,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43which was already raucously free in the late 19th century.
0:13:45 > 0:13:46Appletons' tells me that,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50"At the offices of leading American newspapers on Newspaper Row,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53"files of newspapers are accessible to the visitor."
0:13:53 > 0:13:57But as you'd expect in the land of the free and the home of the brave,
0:13:57 > 0:13:58there is a free press here.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02And some American presidents have discovered that, in Washington,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05the press is both free and very brave.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Just as the press has moved away from Fleet Street in London,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23so it has from Washington's Newspaper Row.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Five blocks north of its 19th-century location,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30I visit the offices of the multi-Pulitzer-prize-winning
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Washington Post.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Founded in 1877, a couple of years before my guidebook,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40this newspaper was highly critical of the then president,
0:14:40 > 0:14:41Rutherford B Hayes.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Nearly 90 years later, another president, Richard Nixon,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52would find himself at the centre of a Washington Post story
0:14:52 > 0:14:54that would prove his undoing.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56I'm meeting columnist John Kelly.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02What does it mean to you to be a journalist on the Post
0:15:02 > 0:15:04in today's Washington, DC?
0:15:04 > 0:15:07I've worked here 26 years and I still get a little thrill
0:15:07 > 0:15:10when I come up that elevator.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Phil Graham, when he was publisher, said that,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15"A newspaper is the first rough draft of history."
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The work we do is pulling together information from
0:15:18 > 0:15:22all sorts of places, it's holding powerful people accountable.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28And in 1972, that's exactly what Washington Post reporters
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did when they began to investigate
0:15:32 > 0:15:35a break-in at the Watergate office complex,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37designed to tap the phones of
0:15:37 > 0:15:41the Democratic Party's National Committee.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Following the money that financed the crime,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46the reporters uncovered a trail which led them
0:15:46 > 0:15:49to the re-election campaign of President Nixon.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know
0:15:54 > 0:15:56whether or not their president's a crook.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Well, I'm not a crook.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02For over two years, Woodward and Bernstein persisted with the story,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06which eventually forced the Senate to establish a committee
0:16:06 > 0:16:07to investigate the scandal.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13It went from this break-in all the way to the White House
0:16:13 > 0:16:18and to Richard Nixon's attempts to basically smear his opponents,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21to break the law, to subvert the Constitution
0:16:21 > 0:16:24and ended up with his resignation.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29Ever since, all manner of scandals have been dubbed with the suffix -
0:16:29 > 0:16:31gate.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34I mean, it really was an extraordinary journalistic coup, wasn't it?
0:16:34 > 0:16:37It just shows you that you never know where any story is going to go.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40This was a story about a break-in.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45No-one knew where it led and I think what inspires us is knowing
0:16:45 > 0:16:48that every day when we come to work...
0:16:48 > 0:16:50What's the phone going to bring?
0:16:50 > 0:16:52What's a little shoe leather going to bring?
0:16:52 > 0:16:54What's an e-mail going to bring?
0:16:54 > 0:16:57What are we going to find that's going to be our big story?
0:16:57 > 0:16:59As a formerly powerful person, you've got me trembling.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01That's as it should be.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08And I gather that at The Washington Post, the truth marches on.
0:17:11 > 0:17:12MICHAEL CHUCKLES
0:17:12 > 0:17:14- John, that is quite a desk. - Well, you'll be glad to know
0:17:14 > 0:17:17- I cleaned it up for you. - I've not seen a desk
0:17:17 > 0:17:19like that since I left my own, back in London.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22This is the photo-file for John Philip Sousa,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25"the March King", who was the head of the Marine Corps band
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and famous for writing incredible pieces of music.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31And in 1889, the new owners of the Post approached him
0:17:31 > 0:17:34to write a piece of music commemorating
0:17:34 > 0:17:36the Amateur Authors Association.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38This was a way
0:17:38 > 0:17:42to get young people and their parents to read the paper,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44they invited kids to enter an essay contest.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47And they ran into John Philip Sousa on the street.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And they said, "Write us something that we can play
0:17:50 > 0:17:52"when we give out the awards."
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And what he wrote was called The Washington Post.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57MUSIC PLAYS: The Washington Post by John Philip Sousa
0:17:57 > 0:18:00To this day, hardly a ceremonial or sporting occasion
0:18:00 > 0:18:04in America is complete without Sousa's march.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17It caught the craze for the two-step, a style of
0:18:17 > 0:18:21dance that was just coming into being at the time.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24And it has a jaunty 6/8 rhythm
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and soon almost any two-step
0:18:27 > 0:18:30came to be known as a Washington Post,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34because the music was so associated with the newspaper and
0:18:34 > 0:18:35with the dance.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Time to take refuge at a hotel for the evening.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49My Appletons' recommends that one of the best is Willard's.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53It had already been a favourite haunt of politicos for 20 years
0:18:53 > 0:18:55by the time of my guidebook.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05Amongst its many famous guests were President Abraham Lincoln,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07author Mark Twain
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32This morning, I'm continuing my tour of the nation's capital.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Whilst the location for the young republic's capital
0:19:39 > 0:19:40was a matter of compromise,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44the choice of its first president in 1789 was not.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50George Washington was the only candidate for the job.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Written in 1879, Appletons' says that,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02"The Washington Monument, in its present unfinished state,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06"is rather a blemish than an ornament to the city.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10"After 230,000 had been expended in building it
0:20:10 > 0:20:16"to a height of 174 feet, funds gave out and the work was suspended."
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Well, luckily, that budget crisis was resolved
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and it was completed to a height of 555 feet.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27And ever since then, all the other buildings in Washington
0:20:27 > 0:20:32are severely restricted in height as a sort of symbolic deference
0:20:32 > 0:20:36to the first president and, for many Americans, the favourite.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49Directly opposite this memorial to the founding president is
0:20:49 > 0:20:51a structure to honour the president who kept
0:20:51 > 0:20:55the United States as one nation - Abraham Lincoln.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Erected less than 40 years apart,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01the monuments to the most revered presidents of the United States
0:21:01 > 0:21:04stand just over a mile from each other.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Appletons' says that, "A statue of Abraham Lincoln
0:21:14 > 0:21:17"stands in Lincoln Park, erected by contributions
0:21:17 > 0:21:19"of coloured people."
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Appletons' uses the language of the day.
0:21:22 > 0:21:28But that is not the monument behind me, which was finished only in 1922,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31by which time it was realised that the president who had
0:21:31 > 0:21:34fought for the Union, who saved the Union,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36who died for the Union,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38merited a national memorial.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45'It's been a popular spot with both domestic and foreign tourists
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'since the 1920s.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51'I want to know what they think of Abraham Lincoln.'
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- Good afternoon.- Good afternoon.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56How would you rate Abraham Lincoln amongst
0:21:56 > 0:21:58presidents of the United States?
0:21:58 > 0:21:59One or two.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Who's his competitor, then?
0:22:01 > 0:22:03- Washington.- Uh-huh, uh-huh.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05- Hi.- Hi, Michael.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Oh, it's very nice to see you. Hello.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09We hadn't picked you out as Brits.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12How do you rate Abraham Lincoln amongst American presidents?
0:22:12 > 0:22:17By the size of that, he's got to have been pretty great, hasn't he?
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Hello, may I join you a second?
0:22:19 > 0:22:21- Yeah, sure, no problem.- Of course.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23How do you rate Abraham Lincoln?
0:22:24 > 0:22:27As far as the presidents of the United States go,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29I think he's probably number one.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31You know, he was president during a time of crisis,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35he's made such an impact on American history.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38And I don't think anyone can dispute his greatness.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45Inside, the statue of the man sits nearly 20 feet high.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Even in life, this political giant stood six feet, four inches tall.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56I want to understand how Lincoln came to be so honoured.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Terry Alford is an author and historian.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06What kind of a man was Abraham Lincoln?
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Abraham Lincoln was a real original child of America, I would say.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12His family had been here for about two centuries
0:23:12 > 0:23:15by the time he came along.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19Born on the frontier, limited education, rural, rustic roots -
0:23:19 > 0:23:20an American original.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22He did follow a legal career, didn't he?
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Yes, that's how Lincoln made his name and his fame
0:23:25 > 0:23:26and, in fact, what fortune he had.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29He was a lawyer and he was really, really good.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Lincoln was admitted to the Bar in 1836.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And it was during his legal career
0:23:36 > 0:23:40that he earned the nickname "Honest Abe".
0:23:40 > 0:23:43As a young litigator, he needed cases, and he found them
0:23:43 > 0:23:46in the burgeoning railroad industry.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49It was one of the great things that developed
0:23:49 > 0:23:50during his lifetime, right?
0:23:50 > 0:23:52I mean, it just revolutionised travel.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55He was profoundly interested in all things like this.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Lincoln was committed to bringing about a transcontinental railroad
0:24:01 > 0:24:04and he made it part of his manifesto for the presidential election
0:24:04 > 0:24:07of 1860.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12In return, railway tycoons enthusiastically supported
0:24:12 > 0:24:15his candidacy and with their financial help,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Lincoln won the presidency.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20He enjoyed near total support from the Northern states,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24but the opposite was true of the slave states of the South.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27What did he feel about slavery?
0:24:27 > 0:24:29He had always felt, I think, at a gut level,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31there was something wrong with it.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34He's not an abolitionist per se.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35He wasn't one of those people,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38"That's the only issue, there is no other issue."
0:24:38 > 0:24:43Lincoln did not intend to end slavery in the South,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45but his pledge to ban expansion of the practice
0:24:45 > 0:24:49into the new Western territories was seen by the South as a threat.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54As the president-elect made his way by train to his inauguration
0:24:54 > 0:24:58in Washington, the Southern states began to break away from the Union.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02They formed the Confederate States of America
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and proclaimed their own government.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Lincoln felt that the America he had grown up in was
0:25:08 > 0:25:11the best country in the world in terms of democratic values,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14accessibility and openness, opportunities...
0:25:14 > 0:25:18And he just couldn't believe that the losers of an election -
0:25:18 > 0:25:20the South, of course, had lost to him -
0:25:20 > 0:25:22that they were going to be able to break that up, right?
0:25:22 > 0:25:26That an orderly society depends upon the majority ruling.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29And that what the South was doing was absolutely incendiary.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31It was essentially a giant riot.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36A giant riot that requires an enormous military response,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40which leads to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Lincoln felt a real sense of responsibility, you know,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46for what happened on these battlefields
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and he was awfully attentive throughout his whole presidency
0:25:49 > 0:25:51to the suffering the war caused.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53And I think it wore on him.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57You can look at these photographs of him, right, from '61 to '65.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59He looks like he's aged 20 or 30 years.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05As the American Civil War dragged on into its third year,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09Lincoln made a bold attempt to destabilise the Confederacy.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13He issued a presidential proclamation to free all slaves
0:26:13 > 0:26:17in the rebellious Southern states from 1st January 1863.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23Slaves in areas captured by the Union troops could now join
0:26:23 > 0:26:28the army, boosting the ranks by 186,000.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Those who remained with their masters, worked to weaken
0:26:31 > 0:26:33the Southern economy.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40When General Robert E Lee surrendered his Confederate Army
0:26:40 > 0:26:45on April 9th 1865, Lincoln's proclamation would lead to
0:26:45 > 0:26:47the emancipation of all slaves.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53I think Lincoln felt enormous relief that the slaughter was over.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Just a great sense of relief, like a weight had been lifted off him.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59The war was over.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04The Union was saved and slavery was officially ended.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08However, racial equality across the nation remained a dream,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10even a century later.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14On the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18a vast crowd at the Lincoln Memorial heard an extraordinary speech
0:27:18 > 0:27:21from Dr Martin Luther King.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31live out the true meaning of its creed -
0:27:31 > 0:27:34we hold these truths to be self-evident,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37that all men are created equal.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41But for Lincoln, the peace brought by the end of the Civil War
0:27:41 > 0:27:44would be short-lived.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Just days later, the president went to see a performance
0:27:46 > 0:27:49of the English farce Our American Cousin
0:27:49 > 0:27:51at Ford's Theatre.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Here, in this auditorium, Lincoln's tragic end was played out.
0:27:58 > 0:27:59Terry, I've never been here before.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01I'm very moved to be in the theatre
0:28:01 > 0:28:04where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
0:28:04 > 0:28:05Was he a keen theatregoer?
0:28:05 > 0:28:07He was. Lincoln loved the theatre.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Gave him a way to get out of the White House,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12a place to go to decompress from politics.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15He came to this theatre a good dozen times.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17In fact, once, he saw John Wilkes Booth,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20who would become his murderer, at this very theatre.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23- Playing onstage. - Playing onstage in November '63,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26so some 15, 16 months before Booth shot him.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28What was the motive of John Wilkes Booth?
0:28:28 > 0:28:32John Wilkes Booth was a fanatical Southern supporter.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37He believed that the war was a giant attack upon the Southern states
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and, unfortunately, he did not go into the Confederate Army.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42I say unfortunately because that would have given him
0:28:42 > 0:28:45an outlet for his passions.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48By staying out, by acting, Booth realised, you know,
0:28:48 > 0:28:50"I play a hero onstage, but I'm not one.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52"I'm really a coward."
0:28:52 > 0:28:55And I think it ate into him and made him dangerous.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59So, on the night of the event, I assume the president and Mrs Lincoln
0:28:59 > 0:29:02would be sitting in the box opposite us.
0:29:02 > 0:29:03Tell us what happened.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05The play started at 8.15 that night.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08About ten o'clock, Booth came into the theatre
0:29:08 > 0:29:12while the play was underway and he walked around the seats behind us
0:29:12 > 0:29:15to the door leading to the State Box and because he was well-known,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18there was no suspicion attached to his presence.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21In fact, Booth was known and liked by the Ford family
0:29:21 > 0:29:22who owned this place.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25And so he had access to all parts of the theatre
0:29:25 > 0:29:28and could simply walk right up to the Lincolns.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30Mr and Mrs Lincoln were watching the play, of course.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Nobody was looking over their shoulder, why should they?
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Booth was able to walk right behind the president
0:29:36 > 0:29:38and from just a few inches, fired a shot that hit him
0:29:38 > 0:29:40right behind the left ear.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Did the president die here in the theatre?
0:29:47 > 0:29:49No, the president was gravely wounded.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53Everyone realised that he was at imminent risk of death.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55But they didn't want him to die in a theatre.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58They didn't know if he could survive a trip back to the White House,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00as close as that is.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03So, they took him across the street to a boarding house
0:30:03 > 0:30:06and he died there at 7.22 the next morning.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13As his body was transported by funeral train
0:30:13 > 0:30:18from Washington to his home in Springfield, Illinois,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Americans lined the route to pay their respects to the great leader.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27It was a tragic loss to the country.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29And I've often thought that there are things you could learn...
0:30:29 > 0:30:32You know, you can learn facts and strategies and tactics,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35but you can't learn humanity, right?
0:30:35 > 0:30:36You can't learn humility.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40And the country was very fortunate to have Lincoln when it did.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42A beautiful thought.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Abraham Lincoln, for all his humanity,
0:30:55 > 0:31:00led the North in a crushing victory over the Confederacy.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05And many in the defeated South must have hated him, as did his assassin.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10But I hope that most Americans today,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13would reflect that he saved the Union
0:31:13 > 0:31:15and liberated the United States from slavery.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Tomorrow, I hope to discover more about the people
0:31:22 > 0:31:24that he freed.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50My journey continues through Washington, DC, a city known
0:31:50 > 0:31:55for its White House and the pale marble of its Capitol Building.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58But a black president has been elected to the Oval Office
0:31:58 > 0:32:01and half of DC's population is black.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04It's time to consider that community's history
0:32:04 > 0:32:07and its contribution to American culture,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10as well as to encounter the general and president
0:32:10 > 0:32:12who gave his name to the city.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25I'm heading to Washington's U Street neighbourhood,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28and the area of Georgetown. Then I'll leave the capital
0:32:28 > 0:32:31to head south into Virginia.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34I'll call at the port of Alexandria and finish
0:32:34 > 0:32:38my journey at the home of the first President of the United States.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46In the years before my guidebook, in the aftermath of
0:32:46 > 0:32:48the American Civil War,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51the population of Washington, DC, exploded.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Even before that war, a very large number of free black Americans
0:32:56 > 0:33:00inhabited the city, and in the second half of the 20th century,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03black people were a pronounced majority.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08At the end of the 19th century, U Street was the largest urban
0:33:08 > 0:33:11African-American community in the United States.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17Today, visitors are drawn to this vibrant area's bars,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20clubs and restaurants, such as Ben's Chili Bowl,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23which has been serving the community since the 1950s.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28That was a period of racial segregation in the United States.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35I found a seat next to Virginia, the widow of the founder, Ben Ali.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40- Hello, Virginia.- Hi. - I'm Michael, very good to see you.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43- A great honour to meet you, actually.- Thank you very much.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46- So, what shall I order here? - Well, why don't you try our chilli?
0:33:46 > 0:33:48- Chilli.- We've got this great chilli con carne.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50Could I get a bowl of chilli, please?
0:33:53 > 0:33:55I've got it. Oh, that looks great. Thank you.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59And we top it off with a little bit of cheddar cheese and onion.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04That is good.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07- Spicy.- Spicy. - Cheese with it's great.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11We have served it for now 57 years.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15So, when you opened, was your clientele all African-American?
0:34:15 > 0:34:18Not all, because white people could go anywhere they wanted, right?
0:34:18 > 0:34:20- Sure.- It was just that we couldn't go downtown.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22And in those days,
0:34:22 > 0:34:26your clients literally couldn't go into the centre of Washington, DC.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29We could go in there, but we didn't go to the theatre,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31we didn't go to the restaurants, no.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33You were kept out.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35Yes, they were not serving black people.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40That's how it was back then, early '50s.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Why did President Obama choose to come to Ben's
0:34:43 > 0:34:45before his inauguration?
0:34:45 > 0:34:47We are a part of the history of Washington.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50We are, I guess, what's left of what was traditionally U Street
0:34:50 > 0:34:52and I think the chilli is wonderful.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54THEY CHUCKLE
0:34:55 > 0:34:58After my pit stop in this famous eatery,
0:34:58 > 0:35:00I have arranged to meet Dr Maurice Jackson
0:35:00 > 0:35:04from the history department at Georgetown University
0:35:04 > 0:35:07for a stroll around the neighbourhood.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09Maurice, what was the U Street neighbourhood like
0:35:09 > 0:35:12- at the beginning of the 20th century?- A vibrant neighbourhood.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15It was African-Americans who moved here, but it was also
0:35:15 > 0:35:17many of the black men who worked in the railroad,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19who were sleeping-car porters.
0:35:19 > 0:35:20It was one of the best jobs you can have -
0:35:20 > 0:35:22you got paid more than a college professor -
0:35:22 > 0:35:25and they lived in this area.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Tens of thousands of African-American men were
0:35:28 > 0:35:32employed as sleeping-car porters for the Pullman Company.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36The industrialist George Pullman had devised these hotels on wheels
0:35:36 > 0:35:39with beds, curtains and chandeliers
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and so transformed long-distance train travel.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46Each car was staffed by a uniformed porter,
0:35:46 > 0:35:50but while African-Americans could work on the luxurious cars,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54as passengers they travelled in very different circumstances.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56The old saying goes, "To the front of the train,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59"to the back of the bus." In a train you always sit in the front.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01Why? Because that is where the coal was,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03that is where the locomotive was and that is where the soot was,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05so you were sitting there because it was hot.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Tell me about how segregation worked in the United States,
0:36:08 > 0:36:11- how it worked here in Washington. - It was very much like apartheid.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14It meant that you would have separate facilities by law.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17In Washington, DC, we don't believe there were ever signs
0:36:17 > 0:36:19that said "coloured only" and "white only" -
0:36:19 > 0:36:21you just knew where you could go and where you shouldn't go.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24I've noticed that there are theatres along here, quite a number of them.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Well, understand that often African-Americans
0:36:27 > 0:36:30could play somewhere, but they couldn't sit there.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31These theatres, the Lincoln Theatre
0:36:31 > 0:36:34and the Republic Theatre down the street, became black theatres.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37What was happening in these theatres in those days?
0:36:37 > 0:36:39At night they became jazz clubs.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong,
0:36:41 > 0:36:43the great big bands would have played there.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46At night, it's just jumping.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48One of the originators of big band jazz
0:36:48 > 0:36:50was brought up on these streets.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Duke Ellington is from Washington. He had a group -
0:36:57 > 0:36:59Duke Ellington and The Washingtonians.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01They played bar mitzvahs, they played weddings,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04they played anything necessary to make a living.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07Ellington became one of the most influential jazz musicians
0:37:07 > 0:37:11of the age and pleasingly, his signature tune is
0:37:11 > 0:37:13Take The A Train.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15MUSIC: Take The A Train
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Today, U Street is a gentrified neighbourhood.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32But you can still find live jazz and disciples of Duke Ellington
0:37:32 > 0:37:35and his fellow greats.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37THEY PLAY JAZZ
0:37:47 > 0:37:50APPLAUSE
0:37:50 > 0:37:51The street has changed.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53The audience, too.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55But the beat goes on.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08My journey continues.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11I am making tracks northwest to a settlement which dates back
0:38:11 > 0:38:14to before the creation of Washington, DC.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Appletons' tells me that Georgetown, "is an old
0:38:23 > 0:38:26"and picturesque town two miles from the capital,
0:38:26 > 0:38:31"with which it is connected by two bridges and two lines of horse cars.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34"The town is beautifully situated with views
0:38:34 > 0:38:37"unsurpassed in the Potomac Valley."
0:38:37 > 0:38:40It is so old that it wasn't named after George Washington,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42but maybe after George II.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45So, king and president coexist.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55Over the decades,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58the city of Washington expanded to meet Georgetown.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03It's home to the main campus of the prestigious Georgetown University.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Some of its students have gone on to be prominent public figures,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09like former president Bill Clinton.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14I'm here to visit one of the oldest scientific agencies in the country.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21"The US Naval Observatory," says Appletons',
0:39:21 > 0:39:24"occupies a commanding site on the banks of the Potomac.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29"Founded in 1842, it is now one of the foremost institutions
0:39:29 > 0:39:33"of the kind in the world, possesses many fine instruments
0:39:33 > 0:39:35"and a good library."
0:39:35 > 0:39:40Well, its new position is in an area known as Georgetown Heights.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43And I think a visit there could be timely.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50My guidebook says visitors are admitted at all hours.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52But security is a little tighter these days,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56because since 1974, the site has been the official home
0:39:56 > 0:39:59of the Vice President of the United States.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03I'm meeting astronomer Geoff Chester.
0:40:05 > 0:40:06Hello, Geoff.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Michael, welcome to the US Naval Observatory.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11Appletons' led me to believe that the US Naval Observatory
0:40:11 > 0:40:14was on the banks of the Potomac, which clearly it isn't any more.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16That's correct.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20We were located in Foggy Bottom on the banks of the Potomac
0:40:20 > 0:40:23from 1844 until 1893,
0:40:23 > 0:40:25when we moved up to occupy this site.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Part of the reason that we were located at Foggy Bottom was that
0:40:29 > 0:40:31we had to be in an area that was visible from all
0:40:31 > 0:40:33the inhabited parts of the city,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36because we had to give a signal every day,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40so that mariners could adjust the corrections for their chronometers.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44So we erected a time ball on top of our old main building and that
0:40:44 > 0:40:46was the one location in the city
0:40:46 > 0:40:49where all those sightlines could be met.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53Every day, precisely at noon, the ball would drop
0:40:53 > 0:40:57and everyone knew exactly what time it was supposed to be.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00In Britain I came across this issue, which was crystallised
0:41:00 > 0:41:04by the railways, of time being different as you
0:41:04 > 0:41:08move from east to west, and that was resolved by standard railway time.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11You must have had this problem in spades in the United States
0:41:11 > 0:41:14- because of the breadth of the country.- Absolutely.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17In the United States, railway time was determined
0:41:17 > 0:41:20by individual railway companies,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24and typically what they would do is they would choose whatever
0:41:24 > 0:41:28the local mean solar time was at one of their terminal stations,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31or at a station somewhere in between.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33So, if you were a traveller in those days,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36you needed to have a way of figuring out exactly what time
0:41:36 > 0:41:39it was where you were going to make your connection for your next train.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43So, you would spend 50 cents and buy one of these books over here.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51So this is called Orton's Adjustable Scale for Longitude and Time
0:41:51 > 0:41:52and if you wanted to, say,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55take a train from New York to Chicago,
0:41:55 > 0:42:00you would be able to place this little tape in the proper place
0:42:00 > 0:42:04and adjust for the hour and the minute offset
0:42:04 > 0:42:06between each of those individual cities.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09So, if you were a traveller in those days and you didn't have
0:42:09 > 0:42:13one of these, you stood a very good chance of missing your train.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17- Such a very complex system simply could not survive.- No.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21The railroads in the United States and Canada
0:42:21 > 0:42:24adopted the concept of standard time.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Essentially what they did was they carved the country up
0:42:28 > 0:42:33into four standard time zones that differed by one integral hour,
0:42:33 > 0:42:37and by 1883, this was such a universal concept that it was
0:42:37 > 0:42:41adopted by everyone in the United States,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44except the American Congress.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47They did not codify standard time
0:42:47 > 0:42:52into United States law until 1918.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Which is extraordinary, isn't it?
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Um, not necessarily,
0:42:58 > 0:43:00if you know our Congress!
0:43:02 > 0:43:05It's testament to the power of the railroads that
0:43:05 > 0:43:09in 19th-century America they created the four standard time zones
0:43:09 > 0:43:12still used today.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14The United States Naval Observatory has long been
0:43:14 > 0:43:17a timepiece for the nation.
0:43:17 > 0:43:19And today its role is global.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22It provides travellers all over the world with
0:43:22 > 0:43:25vital information about their location.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29So, here we find ourselves surrounded by electronic boxes
0:43:29 > 0:43:33and cylinders and things that look nothing like a clock to me.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37Time is involved intricately with positioning.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39Most of us today, whether we know it or not,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43have a global positioning device, either a little hand-held unit
0:43:43 > 0:43:45or something that is built into your smartphone.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49The way that your GPS figures out where you are on the surface
0:43:49 > 0:43:53of the Earth is to take a very precise timescale
0:43:53 > 0:43:56and measure the difference in time signals
0:43:56 > 0:44:00that are transmitted from satellites 12,000 miles overhead -
0:44:00 > 0:44:02triangulating, essentially,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05the different time ticks from different satellites
0:44:05 > 0:44:09and then comparing that with our master clock timescale.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13So any time you look at the display on your smartphone,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16you are basically looking at time that points back here,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18to the US Naval Observatory.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20It's been quite a long journey, hasn't it,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23since the days when men peered with telescopes to see a ball drop
0:44:23 > 0:44:25to set their chronometers?
0:44:25 > 0:44:27It's a big job, but somebody's got to do it.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32From the antique to the cutting edge,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35this magnificent repository of scientific instruments,
0:44:35 > 0:44:40charts and knowledge rounds off my exploration of the nation's capital.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03This morning I'm leaving Washington, heading south,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05crossing into the state of Virginia.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Alexandria is my next stop and Appletons' tells me that it
0:45:18 > 0:45:21is situated on the south side of the Potomac,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24seven miles below Washington.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Although Appletons' was written after the American Civil War,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30whose principal cause was slavery,
0:45:30 > 0:45:36the African-American community is almost not mentioned in the book -
0:45:36 > 0:45:38an omission which I think I'll find particularly striking
0:45:38 > 0:45:43in Alexandria, which played an important part in the sale
0:45:43 > 0:45:45and traffic of human chattels.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10My guidebook says that Alexandria is a quaint old town
0:46:10 > 0:46:12dating from 1748.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15Back then, the cash crop here was tobacco
0:46:15 > 0:46:19and it was extremely labour-intensive to produce.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21The crop was worked by slaves.
0:46:24 > 0:46:301315 Duke Street was, during the 1830s, the headquarters of one
0:46:30 > 0:46:35of the largest slave-trading companies in the United States.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40It had extensive pens for the slaves and access to wharves
0:46:40 > 0:46:45and docks, and it traded up to 1,000 slaves a year.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50This modest property has been the scene of untold human misery.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00In 1808, the act prohibiting the importation of slaves
0:47:00 > 0:47:01came into effect.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05However, a robust internal slave trade
0:47:05 > 0:47:07continued at places like this,
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Alexandria's Market Square,
0:47:10 > 0:47:12where I am meeting the director
0:47:12 > 0:47:14of the city's Black History Museum, Audrey Davis.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18- Audrey, hello.- Hi, how are you?
0:47:18 > 0:47:20- Good to see you. - Good to see you, yes.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23So, here we are in the market at Alexandria
0:47:23 > 0:47:26and this was the scene of slave sales.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28The dealers would come in from Duke Street,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31bringing in their slaves, and they would sell them
0:47:31 > 0:47:34here at the market - men, women and children, and while you
0:47:34 > 0:47:37are also selling produce and other goods, you are selling humans.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39They don't know where they are going,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42they don't know if they are going to be kept with their families,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45they hope that they might see their children again.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48It's, to me, just a horrible, horrible experience.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52When the American Civil War broke out in 1861,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Northern forces occupied parts of Virginia.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59A judgment made by a general in Union-held territory
0:47:59 > 0:48:03would forever change the lives of enslaved people here.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06In 1861 at Fortress Monroe,
0:48:06 > 0:48:10General Benjamin Franklin Butler makes a very fateful decision
0:48:10 > 0:48:12when three slaves come to him, seeking asylum.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16And he thought, "Well, why should I send them back to their masters?"
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Even though by law, he should have, he decided to keep them
0:48:19 > 0:48:22and use their labour for the Union cause.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26Officially, slaves were considered not people, but property.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30So, using the same logic, General Butler, a trained lawyer,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33decided that they could be kept by the North as contraband.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Escaping slaves know that if they can get to any area that is
0:48:38 > 0:48:41protected by the Union, they have a chance at freedom.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43They weren't exactly completely free,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45but they knew if the Union won the war, they would be.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49But they had a chance to work for a wage and they had some protection
0:48:49 > 0:48:53and they had at least some autonomy in how they lived their lives.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Alexandria fell to Northern, Union forces
0:48:56 > 0:49:01and thousands of enslaved people risked their lives to reach it.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03In the space of just 16 months,
0:49:03 > 0:49:07its population more than doubled as 10,000 escaped slaves,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11who came to be known as contrabands, made it to the city.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16Many arrived malnourished and exhausted and succumbed to disease.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24The Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery became the final
0:49:24 > 0:49:27resting place for about 1,700 African-Americans.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33On the walls are the names, etched in bronze, of the men,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36women and children who are buried here.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Has the cemetery survived in quite good condition,
0:49:44 > 0:49:45then, over the years?
0:49:45 > 0:49:48We know that the community, of course, obviously knew that it was
0:49:48 > 0:49:49a cemetery during the time -
0:49:49 > 0:49:52there were wooden markers for the graves, there was a wooden
0:49:52 > 0:49:54picket fence that went around the cemetery.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58But over the years, and with the weather, the fence fell down,
0:49:58 > 0:50:02the headboards disintegrated and so you really have a grassy mound.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04But people were aware that it was a cemetery.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10In the 1950s, a petrol station was built on the site.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14We don't know why that happened,
0:50:14 > 0:50:19when we know as late as 1948 the cemetery shows up on city maps,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22so it's one of the unanswered questions that we have.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26For ten years, community activists fought to restore the site
0:50:26 > 0:50:32and in 2007 the City of Alexandria purchased and cleared the land.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36It was rededicated and this memorial was erected in 2014.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40So, these people, who did not have any dignity
0:50:40 > 0:50:43in life or any respect in life,
0:50:43 > 0:50:46we think, in this memorial, retain that dignity
0:50:46 > 0:50:49and retain the honour that they deserved for what
0:50:49 > 0:50:51they did to help our country move forward from slavery.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03I'm continuing my journey south with an excursion
0:51:03 > 0:51:07recommended by Appletons', to a place so hallowed that even
0:51:07 > 0:51:11when the Civil War raged all around, it remained neutral ground.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Back in 1879, tourists would have travelled here
0:51:17 > 0:51:21in the spirit of pilgrims, for this is the home of the man
0:51:21 > 0:51:25who represented the highest ideals of the American nation -
0:51:25 > 0:51:28its first president, George Washington.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35"Mount Vernon," says Appletons',
0:51:35 > 0:51:38"on the Virginia side of the Potomac, was bequeathed by
0:51:38 > 0:51:44"Augustine Washington, who died in 1743, to Lawrence Washington.
0:51:44 > 0:51:49"George Washington inherited the estate in 1752.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52"The central part of the mansion, which is of wood,
0:51:52 > 0:51:56"was built by Lawrence and the wings by George Washington."
0:51:56 > 0:52:00It may seem extraordinary that a man who fought a revolutionary war
0:52:00 > 0:52:05and was the first President of the United States had time to
0:52:05 > 0:52:08involve himself in home improvements.
0:52:08 > 0:52:09But you know what they say -
0:52:09 > 0:52:13if you want something done, ask a busy man.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20George Washington was born into the colonial gentry of Virginia.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24When he inherited Mount Vernon, he and his wife, Martha,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27transformed it into this grand Palladian mansion.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33In the garden, designed by Washington himself,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37I'm meeting the head of this historic site, Curt Viebranz.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43- Michael, pleased to meet you. - And a lovely spot in which to meet.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46From my guidebook, I get an impression of George Washington
0:52:46 > 0:52:50that I had not had before, of a rather houseproud man
0:52:50 > 0:52:52who has time to take care of this estate. Is that right?
0:52:52 > 0:52:56Yes, the home itself was added onto twice.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59It was very important to him that he be seen as
0:52:59 > 0:53:02not just a backward Virginian,
0:53:02 > 0:53:06but really somebody who was in line with the latest fashion.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09So much of what you see here in terms of the architecture,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12as well as all of the gardens, was really his handiwork.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19The great contradiction that we find in George Washington was that
0:53:19 > 0:53:23while he was forging a nation of men created equal,
0:53:23 > 0:53:28his 8,000-acre plantation was worked by 200 slaves.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33He was not a signatory of the Declaration of Independence
0:53:33 > 0:53:36because he was, of course, leading the army,
0:53:36 > 0:53:41but I think he saw that there was a huge conflict between those ideals
0:53:41 > 0:53:45espoused in the Declaration and the fact that we had a significant...
0:53:45 > 0:53:50Around the 1790 census, we had 600,000 slaves in the United States.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53But again, ever the pragmatist, I think he realised that
0:53:53 > 0:53:55there was no possibility that there would be
0:53:55 > 0:53:58a Union if they had to really wrestle with that.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00But over time, his views evolved.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04In July of 1799 - not knowing, of course,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07he was going to be dead within five months -
0:54:07 > 0:54:12he wrote a second will and that will called for his slaves to be freed
0:54:12 > 0:54:14at the time of Martha's death.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18George Washington was the only Founding Father
0:54:18 > 0:54:24to free his slaves, which came into effect on 1st January 1801.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31As the home of the first President, and of the first First Lady,
0:54:31 > 0:54:36Mount Vernon is a landmark in the history of the United States.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39A team of archaeologists is excavating to find out
0:54:39 > 0:54:42what life here was like.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44- Hello, Eleanor, I'm Michael. - Hello, good to have you.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47- May I join you in your pit? - Yeah, sure, come on in.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49- In fact, may I give you a hand? - I would love that.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52- All right, thank you. - Pick up the trowel and get to work.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54So, what is it you are digging here? What is the archaeology?
0:54:54 > 0:54:58Well, we are excavating in this area that Washington called his grove.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01This was the pleasure grove, meant for strolling and admiring
0:55:01 > 0:55:04the landscape on the part of the many visitors
0:55:04 > 0:55:05that came to Mount Vernon.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07And why would that be rich in archaeology?
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Well, this landscape in particular actually changes
0:55:10 > 0:55:12over time pretty vastly.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Early on it is a big midden or trash pile, so we can learn a lot about
0:55:16 > 0:55:20the operations of the plantation and the daily lives of the Washingtons
0:55:20 > 0:55:22and the enslaved people, just by digging in this one space.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25What is this stone-like thing that I have struck here?
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Well, you've actually found an oyster shell.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31Oyster shells, of course, were the detritus of eating oysters.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34They were also pulverised to make the lime that made the mortar
0:55:34 > 0:55:37that held the bricks together here on the plantation,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39so that's a great find.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42Well, a veritable treasure trove of things.
0:55:42 > 0:55:43A treasure trove of trash.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46- What are we looking at here, then? - This is a drinking pot.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49It's actually a kind of ceramic that was made in Staffordshire, England,
0:55:49 > 0:55:52and would have been used probably in the kitchen here at Mount Vernon.
0:55:52 > 0:55:53SMASH!
0:55:53 > 0:55:57- I'm so sorry.- That's OK. - The wretched handle came off.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00'Better not touch anything else!'
0:56:00 > 0:56:03And then, what, a piece of tinfoil?
0:56:03 > 0:56:06- This is actually a piece of silver. - Ah.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09We very rarely find silver and gold
0:56:09 > 0:56:12in the archaeological record, obviously because it was valuable,
0:56:12 > 0:56:15but this piece somehow managed to survive.
0:56:15 > 0:56:16Any idea what it is?
0:56:16 > 0:56:19We actually believe that it's been torn or ripped away
0:56:19 > 0:56:23from the scabbard of a sword, so the leather holder
0:56:23 > 0:56:27of a sword would have been decorated with lots of silver mountings.
0:56:27 > 0:56:28And this one, we think,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31actually bears the monogram of George Washington,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34so that's the bottom of the G there
0:56:34 > 0:56:37and the bottom of the curly W there.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40So what you are touching there, may once have been touched
0:56:40 > 0:56:42- by George Washington.- Certainly.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02The view of the Potomac that George Washington enjoyed.
0:57:02 > 0:57:05He is revered by Americans as the general who defeated
0:57:05 > 0:57:10the British and as a wise and humble first president.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13And many will be relieved that at the end of his life,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16he chose to free himself of slaves.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20But he and the other Founding Fathers failed to resolve
0:57:20 > 0:57:22the slavery issue.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25It is the United States' founding fatal flaw,
0:57:25 > 0:57:27its original sin,
0:57:27 > 0:57:29and it took a long time
0:57:29 > 0:57:32and another war to deal with it.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35And another great president -
0:57:35 > 0:57:36Abraham Lincoln.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46'Next time -
0:57:46 > 0:57:49'I bottle the classic Southern tipple, bourbon...'
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Oh, you missed one. There's a little more skill to it.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54Apparently!
0:57:54 > 0:57:59'..I get into colonial character on Williamsburg's plantations...'
0:57:59 > 0:58:01Push away from me a little bit more.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04Perfect. That's... that's a good-looking furrow.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07'..discover the truth about the first settlers...'
0:58:07 > 0:58:11This is ground zero, this is the centre of the beginning
0:58:11 > 0:58:13of the New World.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16'..and my spirits are raised by the First Baptist Gospel Choir.'
0:58:18 > 0:58:22# The Lord is my shepherd
0:58:22 > 0:58:26# And I shall not want... #