| 00:00:00 | POLITICIAN, THEN AND NOW, I THINK IS BEING REALISTIC ENOUGH TO ASSESS WHAT'S POSSIBLE AND WHAT'S NOT. |
| 00:00:07 | POLITICS IS THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE. |
| 00:00:09 | IN 1861, WHEN LINCOLN BECAME PRESIDENT, THE NOTION OF ABOLISHING SLAVERY, OF EMANCIPATION AS WE'RE DISCUSSING IT HERE ON THIS PANEL, WAS VIRTUALLY INCONCEIVABLE. |
| 00:00:19 | IT BECAME CONCEIVABLE OVER TIME, BECAUSE OF THE MOMENTUM OF THE WAR ITSELF. |
| 00:00:23 | AND IT BECAME LEGALLY POSSIBLE BY VIRTUE OF LINCOLN'S INTERPRETATION OF THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF CLAUSE, ARTICLE 2, SECTION 2 OF THE CONSTITUTION, WHICH IS VERY VAGUE ABOUT WHAT THOSE POWERS ARE. |
| 00:00:36 | THE PRESIDENT SHALL BE THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE ARMY AND NAVY, PERIOD. |
| 00:00:40 | BUT APPARENTLY IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS ARE A COMPONENT OF SOUTHERN MILITARY STRENGTH, AND THAT IF THEY ARE APPLIED TO OUR SIDE, CAN BE AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF UNION MILITARY STRENGTH, THEN MY POSITION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF GIVES ME THAT LEGAL AUTHORITY TO ACT IN WAYS THAT WERE INCONCEIVABLE IN 1861. |
| 00:01:02 | THE QUESTION IS WHETHER OR NOT LINCOLN IS FORCED INTO THIS APPRECIATION AND THESE CIRCUMSTANCES BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES AROUND HIM, WHETHER'S DRAG WHETHER HE'S DRAGGED ALONG BY HISTORY. |
| 00:01:17 | HE SAID I FULLY CONFESS I HAVE NOT CONTROLLED HISTORY, BUT HISTORY HAS CONTROLLED ME. |
| 00:01:22 | HE MAY HAVE MEANT THAT I HAD TO WAIT FOR HISTORY TO CATCH UP TO ME. |
| 00:01:26 | I THINK IN SOME RESPECTS, LINCOLN WAS A SECRET EMANCIPATIONIST FROM THE START AND WAS WAITING FOR SOCIETY, NORTHERN SOCIETY IN PARTICULAR, WHICH HAD TO SUSTAIN HIM IN OFFICE, TO CATCH UP WITH HIM AND FOR THE CONSTITUTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES TO ENABLE HIM TO MOVE AGAINST SLAVERY WHEN IT WAS FINALLY POSSIBLE. |
| 00:01:45 | WHICH WAS IN THE FALL OF 1862. |
| 00:01:47 | >> SO DO YOU SEE HIM IN THE SUMMER OF 1862 AS HERALD HALLSER SAID LAST NIGHT, BEING SOMEONE ENGAGED IN THIS DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN TO TRY TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT THE TIME WAS RIGHT, AND THAT WE COULD DO IT, OR DO YOU THINK THAT WAS NOT MISINFORMATION THAT HE ACTUALLY BELIEVED? |
| 00:02:08 | >> THERE ARE ELEMENTS OF LINCOLN NOT ONLY HANDLING THAT, BUT THE COLONIZATION SCHEME. |
| 00:02:15 | I THINK IT IS TRUE THAT LINCOLN STILL TOYED WITH THE IDEA THAT MAYBE SOMEHOW AN ESCAPE VALVE FOR FREED FORMER SLAVES TO GO ELSEWHERE AND LIVE IN A SOCIETY WHERE THEY WOULD NOT BE SURROUNDED BY WHITE PEOPLE WHO DESPISED THEM AND WERE CONTINUALLY TRYING TO PRAGMATICALLY REENSLAVE THEM, MIGHT BE A DESIRABLE OUTCOME. |
| 00:02:36 | BUT IN ADDITION TO WHAT HE WAS ALSO SAYING TO NORTHERN WHITES, YOU KNOW, DON'T WORRY THAT THE EMANCIPATION OF SOUTHERN SLAVES MEANS THAT MILLIONS OF THESE GUYS ARE GOING TO COME NORTH AND TAKE YOUR JOBS. |
| 00:02:47 | YOU KNOW, THEY MIGHT HAVE SOMEPLACE ELSE TO GO. |
| 00:02:49 | HE GOT A LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR OF OHIO, YATES, WHO WROTE TO HIM TO SAY, THIS WHOLE EMANCIPATION THING, DON'T DO THIS UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION, BECAUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE UP HERE THINK THAT IF THERE'S EMANCIPATION, WE'RE GOING TO LOSE OUR JOBS, WE'LL HAVE BLACKS MOVING AMONGST US AND NOBODY WANTS THAT. |
| 00:03:09 | TO HIS CREDIT LINCOLN DID NOT WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION, HE MOVED BEFORE THAT. |
| 00:03:14 | BUT TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, SOME OF THE THINGS THAT LINCOLN SAYS, HE DOESN'T SAY BECAUSE HE EXPECTS THEM TO BE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LINCOLN. |
| 00:03:20 | HE SAYS THEM BECAUSE OF THE IMPACT THAT THEY WILL HAVE ON THIS CULTURAL CHANGE THAT'S GOING ON IN AMERICAN SOCIETY, IN WHICH HE'S WAITING FOR -- TO CATCH UP TO HIM, SO HE CAN MAKE THE MOVE THAT HE NOW BEGINS TO SEE IS GOING TO BE POSSIBLE. |
| 00:03:39 | >> I'M GOING TO JUMP IN AND ADD A NEW QUESTION HERE. |
| 00:03:41 | SO YOU SAID -- YOU |
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