Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts 20240622

The Surgeon General, Surgeon General joseph barnes, responds to the president s side. This is at the petersons house directly across the street from fords theater. Barnes calls for something called a probe and when he founted that in the back here on display. The idea with the probe was that it would be threaded into the wound with the idea that depending on how far into the wound the probe would go might identify where the fragment or bullet was. They werent able to do so. The bullet they found later ended up being lodged behind lincolns right eye. But the probe was retained and eventually made its way into the museums holdings and is part of the exhibit we have here on display. Surgeon general barnes and Army Medical Museum staff John Woodward and another surgeon named Edward Curtis were at the president s bedside in the hours before he died, which was about 7 22 the next morning, the 15th of april, 1865. It was decided then that a postmortem would be performed very quickly and the president s body was removed to the white house and the autopsy itself was performed in a room that today is the one of the president s dining rooms on the second floor of the residence. Its during that autopsy that the bullet is recovered. The skull would have been removed, the top of the skull would have been removed from lincolns head and as the story is recounted by dr. Curtis, dr. Curtis lifted the brain out of the skull and held it over a china bowl and the bullet fell into the china bowl and made a tinkling sound and according to curtis notes and notes of others in the room there was a pause, a moment of silence and with that sound of the bullet in the china bowl is really the only sound making any noise at that exact moment. Curtis reflects on it by saying something to the effect of this is a lead ball for which we cant yet for measure the calams effect. The autopsy is completed and some fragments of lincolns skull were retained by surgeons who assisted at the autopsy and in one case some fragment was stuck on some of dr. Curtis tools and as he was cleaning his surgical kit later that day he found a bit of lincolns skull fragments stuck in one of the saws. We also have on display a bit of lincolns hair removed from the site of the wound during the autopsy. Several locks of hair are accounted for in the notes from those hours before lincoln died and during his autopsy. These are just a few of those that were cut and given away to different people. Another object, though, thats on display relates again to dr. Curtis. Edward curtis, a staff on the medical museum was an assistant at the autopsy. When he got home that night, the 15th of april, after the autopsy, he discovered that his undershirt sleeve shirt cuffs were stained with the president s blood. And mrs. Curtis cut the shirt cuffs off and put them into an envelope when they signed and endorsed and this is one of the two shirt cuffs. Both shirt cuffs are in the museums holdings. Just this one is on display. Many of these objects had an interesting and diverse history. The bullet was used at the trial of the conspirators. The fragments of bone and hair were in the care and holdings of others for many years and most were collected in the early 1950s by an Army Medical Museum curator named helen hurdle and for the most part have been on display for many decades. Its important to note that 2015 will mark the 150th anniversary of the assassination of president Abraham Lincoln. We hope you enjoyed this visit to our exhibit on civil war medicine and the artifacts related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln here at the Natural Museum of health and medicine. Its important for us to share these artifacts that convey the lessons and the history of military medicine with 150 years ago, and thats the inspiration for much of the work that the museum does today to carry on that mission and legacy of military medicine today and into the future. We hope youll consider visiting the museum if youre in the washington, d. C. Area sometime soon. You can watch this or other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting your website, cspan. Org history. Here on cspan3 thursday, a look at issues on aging. Our programs include a Senate Hearing in efforts to fight alzheimer alzheimers, thats thursday, 1 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan3. Florence harding once said that she had only one hobby and that was warren harding. She was a significant force in her husbands presidency and adept at handling the media, despite hardships, scandals, her husbands infidelities, his death in office, and her own poor health, he would help define the role of the modern first lady. Florence harding on first ladies influence and imaging, examine the public and private lives of first ladies. From Martha Washington to michelle obama, sundays at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Each week, American History tvs american artifacts visits museums and historic places. Next we travel to Independence National historical park in philadelphia to visit the Assembly Room inside Independence Hall where both the declaration of independence and the u. S. Constitution were debated and eventually signed. This Program Featuring National Park Service Ranger Matthew Ifill is about one hour. We are in a building that is built in the 1730s, about 40 years before there was any such thing as the United States of america. And at that time, of course, pennsylvania was a british colony. And this was its capitol building. They would make laws for pennsylvania. Each of the 13 enclose colonies has its own governments. These are the issues that will lead to the creation of the United States, most of which is going to happen in this room because the colonies as time goes forward or at least many people of the Political Class in these colonies will start to grow dissatisfied with the way the British Government is treating them, is affecting their lives locally and one of the other side issues is americans living in the colonies do not get to vote in british elections. When the parliament in london makes laws for americans, of course the most famous being various taxes and such that you all get to learn about in school, were going to say this is taxation without representation. And its that idea that youre not getting the voice. Thomas jefferson would right in the declaration of independence about government existing without the consent of the governed and americans are feeling like they arent getting that consent. When it starts disappearing locally as well as connected with the home country in london and britain, that they are really going to get this growing dissatisfaction. So this room is long in use by pennsylvania, but by 1775, pennsylvania will essentially be inviting the Continental Congress into their space. The Continental Congress met in philadelphia about a year earlier, although they chose not to meet here at Independence Hall that year. They met down the street at carpenters hall. The first set of meetings, the first Continental Congress is the first real sitdown of these different colonies and this idea of expressing to the British Government what would be under british sort of constitution bill of rights at that time. This notion of redressing grievances that wed have as british subjects and ultimately go right to the king and say, look, we are loyal british subjects here in america, but these things are happening that we have these grievances over, this loss of rights, this loss of our connection with the government. The fact that theyre taking away some of our local government, theyre closing down our local courts. They are giving us these rules to follow that we have no say. So they write this letter to the king which perfectly within your rights under british law, and they also agree as a group on an association that these 13 colonies will kind of Work Together in future on these big issues. So whats going to happen is they go home after that meeting in the fall of 1774 because obviously communicating across the ocean in the late 1700s is going to take a little while. So theyre not going to come back to philadelphia until the spring of 1775. However, things have changed in those few months in the area of boston, youll have battles at lexington and concord in april. So when congress is coming back here to philadelphia, this is sort of the news. Theyre actually finding out in some way about some of the conflict that has begun. Suddenly things being a lot more serious leads to a lot more serious circumstances when Congress Starts to meet in this room in may. The first big thing theyre going to tackle is this notion of working as a group, but the idea of maybe fighting for those rights, of actually taking that militia Minuteman Army up around boston and making it an american army. The continental army. In june of 1775, one of the first really big steps as far as changing the world is going to be creating this continental army. This american army. 13 separate colonies that have always run their lives separately and for years had not necessarily resisted working together but it never particularly worked out that they all wanted to Work Together at the same time. Theyd finally create this army, june 14th, 1775, taking the beginnings of the army up in boston, that had thought against the british already, making it the american army, and to me, most importantly, picking George Washington to be the commander of that army. That is really one of the most important decisions made in this room. If you think about the way this war will go for the young United States, its 8 1 2 years. George washington will be the only commanding general well have for all of those years. At the end, he will succeed. Back in 1775, they are still figuring out what they are fighting for. That leads to one last letter to the king. We call this one the olive branch petition. Like theyd done before, starts off with the idea were loyal british subjects fighting for our rights. Again, going, following the chain of command in britain to the king to ask that he assist us in redressing these grievances. The other thing theyll write is a declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms. Both of these will be written in july, putting out there to the world what we are looking to do to correct this situation that we feel has gone against us and that our rights are being threatened or taken away. Unfortunately, the British Government in london will decide that theyre not going to really communicate with the Continental Congress. The king himself will announce theres this rebellion in america, and the British Government will essentially issue this letter to americans that says if youre going to be involved in this rebellion, were going to view you as a traitor. And the crime of trean trees treason, could very well lead to a death penalty. So by early 1776, that news gets to philadelphia. So were now half a year plus into the war, and its getting very clear that negotiating, talking, isnt particularly solving anything. And you do have this very radical bent of men that are in this room that are pushing more and more towards this idea of independence. And finally you get the last big push which is Thomas Paynes book common sense published here in philadelphia, selling tens of thousands of copies through the colonies. And paynes simple argument is we dont need those guys. We can run america better than the british ever could. And so this idea of independence kind of swells through that spring. By june, virginia introduces a resolution for american independence. But they decide to not address it right away in june. They are going to want to consult their home governments, their colonies or states, if we want to start calling them that because were getting to that point. At the same time they want to put something on paper. So while they are each consulting home to see what home says they should, do they are also going to form this fiveman committee. John adams of massachusetts, who is probably in a lot of ways one of the most significant guys in congress those early days. Hes really pushing for that creation of the army in 1775. Also the navy in the fall of 1775. Hes pushing in the spring of 1776 that each of the colonies write its own constitution which is again another step towards independence that each colony sort of getting rid of that old charter they had from the British Government. Their old constitution sort of speaking and creating a new independent constitution. Hes one of the leaders in a lot of this movement. Also on the committee is Robert Livingston of new york who goes back ten years to the meetings held over the stamp taxes. You have a man from connecticut named Roger Sherman who is going to end up signing not only the declaration of independence, but also the articles of confederation. Only two men who can make that claim. Benjamin franklin from right here in philadelphia, which is far and away the most famous american at the time. 70 years old. Oldest man in congress. And then one of the younger guys in congress, thomas jefferson. 33 years old. The growing reputation for his writing and his political thought. And the committee sit, deciding what to say, decides jefferson should be the writer. He works for about 17 days on the declaration of independence, and he will especially go to john adams and Benjamin Franklin for some of their ideas and critiques of his writing. But generally its his work. Hes building on a lot of other things that he and others had written. Some of the grievances theyd already been talking about make up a big bulk of that declaration of independence. By june 28th, the declaration is sort of back here in the Assembly Room. But thats a friday. Theyll wait until the next monday to start debating. July the 1st begins debate on independence. The first thing theyll debate is not the declaration but the idea. Theyll start discussing, is this really the best idea for us to do. Should we become these free and independent states . Most of the men in the room are at that point theyre ready to make this step. But there are others that arent loyal. Theyll not have loyalists in the Continental Congress. They wouldnt want anything to do with it. But they are men that are more conservative saying this may not be such a good idea. John dickinson is probably the most important of them. Years earlier, the author of the letters of a pennsylvania farmer, which is again against some of those various taxes and acts, stamp taxes and so on. Hes probably one of our best known political writers of the day. Hes sort of pulling back saying the idea is how are we going to win a war against the british . This doesnt seem like the best idea to declare our independence because this cuts off any chance of negotiating with the british. Others might look at the idea we dont really have anybody helping us. Britain is one of the great powers of the world. America is maybe 3 Million People and certainly a good chunk of them remaining loyal to the crown. There will be battles in this war with just americans on both sides. So theres some saying maybe we should slow down but most of the men are ready to move forward. On july 1st, theyll hold a nonbinding committee of the whole vote. The vote is on the question of being free and independent states. Heres how voting works in the Continental Congress. You have 13 states or colonies, depending on your time period. Each gets an equal vote. One vote per state. They have different numbers ever of men at each table. Some states allow their delegates to decide amongst themselves. Some states will give their delegates specific instructions. Here in the room on july 1st, youre going to have nine of the delegations voting why that we should be free and independent states. Two will vote no, and two will be either divided or not voting. New york is still waiting for their formal instructions from home so theyre not going to technically vote at all. Delaware is divided. They have two of their delegates in the room. One for, one against. So theyre divided. Pennsylvania and South Carolina are going to vote no. So on the rest of the first and into the second, because the second is the day they want to take the binding vote, the politicking is we want to try to make this unanimous. New york theyre going to sort of ignore because they havent gotten any instructions. New yorks going, we have to wait until they tell us what to do. Delaware has a third delegate. Hes at home. They call for him to get here. He rides overnight through the storm. If you did the state quarters, delaware has a guy riding on a horse, his name is caesar rodney. So he gets up here from delaware on the 2nd to vote and break the tie and make delawares vote a yes for independence. Then pennsylvania and South Carolina. South carolina has three delegates. We assume that its 21 and they manage to get one of the guys to switch his vote. South carolina will be on board. And pennsylvania is more complicated. Theyve got one of the bigger delegations. When that vote goes south for pennsylvania, theyll convince two of the guys to sort of walk away when theyre ready to make the final vote so it can be unanimous. They dont have to vote against how they feel. John dickinson is one of those who will not vote amongst the pennsylvania delegates. So instead of a onevote loss, it becomes a onevote win and now its 120. We ignore new york at the moment. July of 1776 theyll vote more or less unanimously with new york waiting to approve the notion of being free and independent states. Thats a day john adams would write to his wife and say, this is what we should celebrate with parades and fireworks and speeches. Sadly for poor july 2nd is never gets remembered because the rest of that day, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th are the days of debating on the declaration of independence. The declaration is about four pages long. Theyll go through more or less every word. Theyll make a significant number of changes, but theyll not change the basic nature of a lot of what he writes. Theyll add some words here and there. The most famous part for most of it is the opening paragraph or two. Most of that remains intact. The early listing of grievances, the things weve been talking about for several years as far as what were worried about the british doing. Most of that remains intact. Probably the most famous section that gets changed is the section about the slave trade. Slave insurrections is another part of that. One of the big arguments is that virginia makes is, their good afternoon had essentially said in the leading days of the war is that slaves should basically kill their masters and seek their own freedom, which for a slaveholding state is slave insur ekz is a very frightening thing. Thats very much on the mind of jefferson. This idea of slave insurrections, bringing more slaves into america becomes more of that. We dont want more slaves we have to worry about in these kind of days. So he goes after the slave trade, blames the king for importing these folks, and that is a bit controversial in this room. You have a fair number of slave holders and slave Holding States that kind of dont want to talk about this. It does get put aside. Slave trade and some of these things were worried about the british doing that would affect lives in america. So at any rate as you get into july 4th, they are going through pretty well every bit of that declaration of independence, but they finally take a little out, adding words here and there. They get to something that all of the men in this room representing all of the 13 states can agree. And they are ready to vote. On the 4th its 120 with again new york waiting and so july 4th becomes, for americans, our day of independence because its the day we literally had something concrete to hold up to the world. This was the day we said, heres what were fighting for. Theres a long list. And again, when we look at the declaration of independence, we focus on that top, that opening section. All men are created equal. The idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Its that list of reasons they were doing this. Justified independence. It justified a war against their own government, which essentially is what this started out being. And it basically said its the british fault for this. This is all the things they did that are really not legal by the british constitution and british bill of rights. Were just acting the way we have to act because we cant we divot we got to this point where we cant stay under this rule anymore. They had something on july 4th they voted yes and voted right away to send it out. We want this to go to states and the army and let people know what were fighting for. Thats really what they needed. If you pull back to the big picture in the summer of 1776, were not winning the war. The british army is invading new york. That summer, massive invasion. Hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of men sweeping down through long island into manhattan and new jersey. By fall of 1777, the british army is sitting in this very room. They capture philadelphia. Washington and his army spend their winter at valley forge. So those early years, those early days are not good ones for the young United States. But we had a declaration of independence we can hold and announce to the world what were fighting for. And we had a general in washington that would keep going in those difficult days. An army that managed to survive those bad winters at places like valley forge and we managed to keep ourselves going. Long enough that we can make changes. Before we get to that, one other thing about our declaration of independence about this room that people expect is that i will tell you they sign the declaration of independence right behind me on the 4th of july. Sadly, they didnt. It probably, the simplest explanation is nobody thought about it that day. They hadnt gotten to the point of preparing a nice fancy handwritten one. They wanted the words agreed to. They wanted it voted on and they wanted people to read it. They sent it to a printer. The oldest are printed on a Printing Press and have no names on them. One of the men here in july will make a proposal that we the word they use is engross the declaration of independence. Make a formal written version and then it be signed by the delegates. Im sure most of the men said, why didnt we think of that sooner . Thats a really good idea. Well have it handwritten and by the beginning of august, its done and checked over. They make sure its all right. Theyll start signing. About 50 guys sign it on august 2nd. A few more over the next couple of weeks. One guy might not be for a couple more years because he wasnt here for a while as a member of congress. Thats the one if you go to washington, d. C. , national archives, thats the one most of us think of as the declaration of independence. But its one that we, like everything theyre going to do in this room is one that we get to by process rather than by some master plan at the beginning. They are making it all along as they go along and figuring it out as they go. The other big thing thats going to happen late that year of 1776, Benjamin Franklin is going to go to france. And he is going to be the guy thats going to help convince france to come into the war on our side. And while the british army is in this room, in early 1778, Benjamin Franklin is signing a peace treaty with france. Thats changing the whole nature of the w