Deny any of your fellow americans the right to vote in this country. [applause] there is no issue of states rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights. [applause] i have not the slightest doubt what will be your answer. The last time a president sent a civil rights bill to the congress, it contained a provision to protect Voting Rights in federal elections. That civil rights bill was passed after eight long months of debate. When that built into my desk from the congress for my signature, the heart of the voting provision had been eliminated. This time, on this issue, there must be no delay or no hesitation, or no compromise without purpose. [applause] we cannot, we must not, refuse to protect the right of every american to vote in every election he may desire to participate in. [applause] and we cannot and must not wait another eight months before we get a bill. [applause] we have already waited 100 years and more. And the time for waiting is gone. [applause] so i ask you to join me in working long hours nights and weekends if necessary, to pass this bill. I do not make that request lightly. From the window where i sit, are the problems of our country. I recognize that from outside this chamber, is the outraged conscience of a nation. The grave concern of many nations. And the harsh judgment of history on our acts. But even if we passed this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in selma is part of a far Larger Movement which reaches into every section and state of america. It is the effort of american negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of american life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just negroes but really, it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome. [applause] as a man whose roots go deeply into southern soul, i know how agonizing racial feelings are. I know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and structure of our society. But a century has passed. More than 100 years. Since the negro was freed. And he is not fully free tonight. It was more than 100 years ago that Abraham Lincoln, a great president of another party, signed the emancipation proclamation. But emancipation is a proclamation, not a fact. A century has passed. More than 100 years since inequality was promised. And yet, the negro is not equal. A century has passed since the day of promise. And the promise is uncapped. Unkept. The time of justice has now come. I tell you that i believe sincerely that no force can hold it back. It is right in the eyes of man and god. That it should come. And when it does, i think that day will write in the lives brighten the lives of every american. [applause] for negroes are not the only victims. How many white children have gone uneducated . How many white families have lived in stark poverty . How many white lives have been scarred i fear because we wasted our energy and substance to maintain the barriers of hatred and terror . [applause] so i say to all of you here and all in the nation tonight that those who appeal to you to hold on to the past do so at the cost of denying you your future. This great rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all. All black and white. All north and south. Sharecropper and city dweller. These are the enemies. Poverty. Ignorance. Disease. They are enemies, not our fellow man, not our neighbor. And his enemies too poverty disease, and ignorance, we shall overcome. [applause] let none of us in any section look with prideful righteousness on the troubles in another section or the problems of our neighbors. There is really no part of america where the promise of equality has been kept. In buffalo, as well as in birmingham, in philadelphia and selma, americans are struggling. This is one nation. What happens in selma or in cincinnati is a matter of legitimate concern to every american. But let each of us look within our own hearts and our own communities and let each of us put our shoulder to the wheel to root out injustice wherever it exists. [applause] as we meet here in this peaceful distort chamber tonight, men from the south some of whom were at iwo jima, men from the north who have carried old glory to the far corners of the world and brought it back without a stain on it, men from the east and west are all fighting together. Without regard to religion or color or region in vietnam. Men from every region fought for us across the world 20 years ago. And now, in these common dangers and common sacrifices, the south made its contribution of honor and gallantry no less than any other region in the great republic. And in some instances, a great many of the more. And i have not the slightest doubt that good men from everywhere in this country, from the great lakes to the gulf of mexico, from the golden gate to the harbors along the atlantic, will rally now together in this cause to vindicate the freedom of all americans. [applause] for all of us over this owe this duty, and i believe all of us will respond to it. Your president makes that request of every american. The real hero of the struggle is the american negro. His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have awakened the conscience of this nation. Is demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice. Designed to provoke change. Designed to stir reform. He has called upon us to make good the promise of america. And among us who among us can say we would make the same progress if not for his persistent wagers and faith in american democracy . [applause] at the real heart of battle for equality is a deepseated belief in the democratic process. Equality depends not on the force of arms or teargas but depends upon the force of moral right. Not on recourse to violence, but on respect for law and order. [applause] and there have been many pressures upon your president. And there will be others as the days come and go. But i pledge you tonight that we intend to fight this battle where it should be fought in the courts and in the congress and in the hearts of men. [applause] we must preserve the right of free speech. And a right of Free Assembly. But the right of free speech does not carry with it, as has been said, the right to yell fire in a crowded theater. We must preserve the right to Free Assembly. But Free Assembly does not carry with it the right to block public thoroughfares. [applause] we do have a right to protest. And a right to march under conditions that do not infringe the Constitutional Rights of our neighbors. And i intend to protect all those rights as long as i am permitted to serve in this office. [applause] we will guard against violence knowing it strikes from our hands the very weapons which we seek progress, obedience to law, and belief in american values. In selma, as elsewhere, we seek and pray for peace. We seek order. We seek unity. But we will not accept the peace of spiteful rights or the order imposed by fear or the unity that stifles protest. For peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty. [applause] in selma tonight as in every city, we are working for a just and peaceful settlement. And we must all remember that after this speech i am making tonight, after the police and fbi and marshals have all gone and after you have promptly passed this bill, the people of selma and the other cities of the nation, must still live and work together. And when the attention of the nation has gone elsewhere, they must try to heal the wounds and build a new community. This cannot be easily done on a battleground of violence. As the history of the south itself shows. It is in recognition of this that men of both races have shown such an outstandingly impressive responsibility in recent days. Last tuesday, again today. The bill that i am presenting to you will be known as a civil rights bill. But in a larger sense, most of the program im recommending is a civil rights program. Its object is to open the city of hope to all people of all races. Because all americans must have the right to vote. And we are going to give them that right. [applause] all americans must have the privileges of citizenship regardless of race. And they are going to have those privileges of citizenship regardless of race. [applause] but i would like to caution you and remind you that to exercise these privileges takes much more than just legal right. It requires a trained mind and a healthy body. It requires a decent home and the chance to find a job. And the opportunity to escape from the clutches of poverty. Of course, people cannot contribute to the nation if they are never taught to read or write. If their bodies are stunted from hunger if their sickness goes untended, if their life is spent in hopeless poverty, just drawing a welfare check. So we want to open the gates to opportunity. But we are also going to give all of our people, black and white, the help that they need to walk through those gates. My first job after college was as a teacher in texas. In a small mexicanamerican school. Few of them could speak english and i could not speak much spanish. My students were poor and often came to class without breakfast, hungry. They knew even in their youth the pain of prejudice. They never seemed to know why people disliked them. But they knew it was so. Because i saw it in their eyes. I often walked home late in the afternoon, after classes were finished, wishing there was more i could do. But all i knew was to teach them the little that i knew, hoping that it might help them against the hardships that lay ahead. And somehow, you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child. I never thought then in 1928 that i would be standing here in 1965. It never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that i might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this country. But now, i do have a chance. And i will let you in on a secret. I mean to use it. [applause] and i hope that you will use it with me. This is the richest, most powerful country which ever occupied this globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But i do not want to be the president who built empires. Or sought grandeur or extended dominion. I want to be the president who educated Young Children to the wonders of their world. [applause] i want to be the president who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be taxpayers instead of taxeaters. [applause] i want to be the president who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election. [applause] i want to be the president who helped to end hatred among his fellow men. And who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties. [applause] i want to be the president who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth. [applause] and so, at the request of your beloved speaker and the senator from montana, the majority leader, the center from illinois, the minority leader. I came here tonight. Not as president roosevelt came down one time in person to veto a bill, not as president truman came down one time to urge the passage of a railroad built. I came down here to ask you to share this task with me. And to share it with the people that we both work for. I want this to be the Congress Republicans and democrats alike which did all these things for all these people. Beyond this Great Chamber out yonder, in 50 states, are the people that we serve. Who can tell what deep and unspoken hopes are in their hearts tonight as they sit there and listen . We all can guess, from our own lives, how difficult they often find their own pursuit of happiness. How many problems each Little Family has. They look most of all to themselves for their future. But i think they also look to each of us. Above the pyramid on the great seal of the United States, it says in latin god has favored our undertaking. God will not favor everything that we do. It is rather our duty to divine his will. But i cannot help believing that he truly understands and that he really favors the undertaking that we begin here tonight. [applause] announcer 150 years ago this month, president lincoln gave his second inaugural address. The country was still in the midst of the civil war but thousands gathered to hear the president speak on march 4 1865. To commemorate the anniversary the library of congress display the president s manuscript a copy of the speech for a limited time due to their delicate condition. Up asked, we visit the Conservation Lab to view the documents. This is about 15 minutes. Host the occasion of this address was march 4 1865, for lincolns second inaugural. And people were expecting i would imagine a much more celebratory kind of speech. The war was not over. It would continue for little over a month, actually more than that but about a month until we surrendered at appomattox. The war was not over. It did continue. It was clear the union was going to win. So you would expect someone to have more of a triumphal address. What you see in lincolns second inaugural the war was caused by slavery, but it was a national sin. God was going to decide. When every drop of blood from the lash is compensated by the blood of the word, he the sword, he will decide when the war is over. He ends with that famous line with malice towards not to care for his orphan and his widow and have a just and lasting pace weace. It starts with what was the past, what caused the war, where are we in the present . Which was that the war will continue until god determines punishment had been levied and then it works to the future with this is what we should do in the future. Essentially, it is a bit about his reconstruction plan that we are not going to be, or he did not want to be vindictive or vengeful. Lincoln believed there were should be a more charitable end. In that context you have to believe some of his own party other people in the north were looking for a lot more venture on this at the end of the war in a reconstruction plan. So there is a lot going on in those 703 words depending on how you count it. So what we are seeing here are the manuscript copy of Abraham Lincolns second inaugural address. And his reading copy. So, for this speech, we know less about the composition, how long it looked how long it took the process of appeared that he was working up the thoughts in nine months in advance. What lincoln would have thoughts and they would get woven into ultimate beaches or dresses. With this, you see he has written out a fair copy in his own handwriting. And this is abraham ligons handwriting. Abraham lincolns handwriting. See cutting and pasting there. So this draft would have gone off to the public printer, the Government Printing office for typesetting. So, when you see the fellow countrymen, that was added later at the gpo in addition to these marks. Flynn would have been the typesetter. Lincoln got back an uncorrected proof which he decided to cut and paste to show how he wanted to read the address. Whereas its in four paragraph in the manuscript, he has cut it up into sections so he could know how he wanted to read the address, what the pasting was and what i think is the most interesting of how he wanted to read it, if you see the other copies and the war came. So, he is describing four yeras ars ago, we had many more reasons to explain what is happening with the nation. Now there is not so much of a reason. He accounts for the reason why the war had started. At the end he separated out all dreaded the war, and the war came. You can imagine lincoln, reading and stopping. One thing you can learn about lincoln from a draft to the final in a lighthearted way but commas tell you a lot. Because lincoln wrote for how people were going to hear a speech. Not sitting by with a book of grammar. So he would write how he wanted his audience to hear something. If you wanted them to take a pause, he would put in in a comma. When an address would go to the printer, the printer is looking for the grammatical point of view. Lincoln will accept some changes and add new ones. When you get to the reading copy you see these marks where hes adding commas again. But you also see where he has decided instead of changing with the world changed it to ll all nations. He tends to write in a lyrical way. All nations sounds much better than with the world. For a small address, there are other things to be seen. If you look here where he said the southern half in regards to slavery. That there was slavery in the southern half. Well half of the nation was not the confederacy because latebreaking because slavery existed in the north. Maryland, kentucky, and in delaware. He changed it to the southern part. Its a minor difference but it makes a difference in who he is talking about. People have asked either other copies of the second inaugural in the same way lincoln wrote out copies of the gettysburg address . Im only awar4e of him writing out one paragraph. But people did not know how short a time he had left. How did the library of Congress Come to own these two copies . Wek know exactly how the manuscript draft came to us. On the reverse of the fourth page it is inscribed by lincoln to his secretary. It was through the hay family, have surviving children in april, 1916 the manuscript version came to the library. With the reading copy, the records are not quite as clear that it did not seem to have come in on the same day. They are all considered part of the Abraham Lincoln papers, but with the reading copy im looking for exact confirmation as to how it got here. And what does the library of congress due to preserve this document . Well, ewe keep in a specifically designed vault w ith the optimal environment controls, temperature and humidity. Security measures on place. We try to really manage the amount of display time. It is very popular. It is exciting to see it. But we do pay the price for displaying these items. If you can see the four pages have color differences. The manuscript pages. These two are very similar. Have not been on display for a very long time. This one longer. Because of the key phrases of the address, the fourth papage has been on display for years sometimes 10 years. And that has really made an impact on the document. The discoloration is caused by the type of glue in the paper in 1865. We are getting mechanical papermaking. The products used are no longer rags but they are wood pulp. All of those things combined causes discoloration to take place. The other thing we keep a close sign is the actual ink used. The ink is not the original color. The original color was black. It was made of on trees. One created by insects who put eggs in twigs. High in tanon. The tanons can be combined with iron sulfate and get lack colored black colored ink. Over time, it turns brown. That is not the only problem. It can also sink to the other side. Because of the highly acidic nature of this ninkink, it can eat its way to the back. What can we do about that . We can keep it under cool and dry environmental conditions. And if its really bad there are chemical treatments but with a document like this we are hesitant about doing that. What we do not want to do is introduce any more water which has happened with this document and the other ones as well. Its unclear when it was treated, but the lining rest removed. Thats good. But that introduced humidity and sometimes creates a halo e ffect around the ink. We do not want to touch it with water if we can help it. I want to point out one more thing which is interesting. The stains can see around the cut and paste, the reading copy, is done with animal glue. It was made of cattle hide and bones. It looks like this. You would use it in a warm manner because if its cool or dry, it is hard to handle. And its got rather stinky. It smells like wet dog. And that is very typical that the for the stains. We know that animal glue was used. So the good news is there is not an awful lot of treatment we have to do with the document but the bad news some light damage has occurred to one of the pages, which is why we want to be conservative with the amount of display time it get. Our records show that it was 1959 when all four of the menu document as well as the reading copy were on display. So, this is an opportunity to see these once again for a very brief time. Actually it will be march 4 the sesquicentennial reading date. That is a wednesday. It will be on display for four days. March 4 through 7, which is a saturday. They will be on display in the great hall of the Jefferson Building in the large bible cases. There will be some supporting materials as well. Photographs and newspaper articles. Lincoln new this was going to be a speech people would remember. I want to make sure i get the quote right. He told weed, a little over a month later i expects the latter to wear as well perhaps better than anything i have produced it i believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by showing that there has been it difference of purpose between the almighty at them and them. Lincoln is saying that everyone is responsible for slavery and the punishment is being levied equally. And so, its not what youre expecting to hear in an inaugural address for a nation that appears on the brink of winning the civil war you can understand why it might not be popular. But over the time lincoln actually was correct, that the second inaugural address along with the gettysburg address tend to be the two documents people remember the most of lincolns. And they are the two documents inscribed at the lincoln memorial. The second inaugural is on the north side. Get is it addresses on the south side. The gettysburg address is on the south side. People remember the last phrase. Why that page was display the most. It is pretty extraordinary after four years of civil war after hundreds of thousands of deaths, the treasure involved in prosecuting the war that lincoln goes into the future with malice toward none with charity for all. That that kind of that kind of generosity is something you would not necessarily expect. The other thing, that was actually not Frederick Douglasss favorites part of the speech. But he concentrated more on the passages with slavery, that this war was about compensating in some sort of larger sense for the sin of slavery. That is again where you get that for every drop taken from the lash will be paid with one from the sword. For africanamericans, remember this war was the one that eliminated slavery. While Abraham Lincoln gave the speech, the 13th amendment had been put out to the states. It abolished slavery. So the 13th amendment that had been proposed in 1861 was to leave slavery alone, four years later, the 13th amendment is going through. So i think there is a lot people can look at in the speech in terms of what lincoln thought was the cause of war was for how you go into the future. Many historians have called this a jeremiad. This is a speech that has a lot of ethical and religious references. A jeremiad is taking people to task for something that some fault of theirs. Puritans had them all the time about here is where we have gone wrong. But at the same point, here is when you can get better. People have talked about that in terms of those jeremiads. The middle portion talking about slavery and where the nation has gone to an extent that god is punishing them but it ends with heres how we are still a nation that god has favored. And lincoln did believe that. Announcer all weekend American History tv is featuring galveston, texas. Established by the proclamation issued by the Mexican Congress the port of galveston is the oldest in the gulf of mexico west of new orleans. Hosted by our comcast table partners, the city tour staff recently visited many sites showcasing the citys history. Learn more about galveston all weekend here on American History tv. Host our collecting policy is collecting anything related to galveston from its founding in the 1830s to the present. As well as documents relating to the history of the early republic of texas up to the civil war. Most of our patrons come in looking for genealogy information. Galveston was a port of entry. This is a map done by Jean Baptiste bernard de la harpe in 1721. It is the earliest known rendering of alliston harbor and bay. A lot of historians were unaware that this was a drawing of galveston and the harbor. They thought it was done of another bay. So they have not acknowledged it as a drawing of galveston. But it is the earliest known rendering of the island, the harbor, and the natural bay. Some of the other items we are going to look at today are documents from the collections of some of the founders of galveston. Since galveston was already a major port, they wanted to start a city here. So a group of men were entrusted with the task of setting up basically a city on the island. The next document is actually from the james morgan papers. It was also an early founder of galveston. It actually lists the original stockholders of the galveston city company. Here you can see mckinney and williams, who actually were in Partnership Together and had their own business. Mckinney and williams were actually businessman, and they were cotton traders. And they really wanted to establish themselves as the primary route for Cotton Growers in texas to transport their cotton out of the republic of texas. They pretty much wanted to have, be the primary transporters of that. So, they are businessman merchants, primarily. The next letter we are going to look at is a letter written from Andrew Jackson to sam houston. Andrew jackson at this point is in retirement at the hermitage in tennessee. And sam houston is president of texas. Its written in january 1844. Sam houston knew Andrew Jackson from his time back east. He had served under Andrew Jackson in the military. He was involved in politics in tennessee. And so, he and Andrew Jacksons knew each other from before houstons time in texas. Circumstances pushed houston to texas. He became involved in the efforts here to gain independence, and the push for annexation and joining the United States. That issue had gone back and forth between prior president of texas and u. S. President s. Both sides at one point or another refusing. There were issues going on annexing a state that accepted slavery was an issue. Great britain getting involved. Sparing the United States to an spurring the United States to annex texas. In 1884, it became a major issue and it gets revisited. So, Andrew Jackson writes to his friend sam houston basically saying that it would really benefit the future prosperity of texas and the United States for this to happen. He ends the letter saying, god bless you. And grant you prosperity in this life and in the life to come. It is the prayer of your friend, Andrew Jackson. The last item relates to the 1900 storm. The 1900 storm for galveston is a major event in the islands history. Theres been a lot written about it and said about it, but it lingers today. So, it is still very much a part of galvestonians history and lives today. This letter is a recent acquisition, and its from francis lister, who was a railroad agent. It is written to his two sons. Dear boys. It is a letter basically describing what happened to him and his family during the storm. It goes into great detail about the water rising and the wind picking up and what happened to them through the night of september 8. Its basically letting the boys know they are ok. He had already sent them telegrams, but i guess he wanted to go into detail and let them know what happened. It is very poignant. The detail is very descriptive and really gives you a good idea of the horrors these people suffered. Just to give you an idea of how horrible the night was we can read about the water rising and houses being moved off their