Feldman analysts is artistic portrayals of the American Revolution and civil war. She talks about the influence of paintings, sculptures, in memorials on how history is remembered. The Smithsonian Associates host to this event. Today we are going to look at the American Revolution and civil war, in particular, but a little beyond that. Controversies about the stories we tell. I am going to focus, because it is impossible to cover such an amount of material in one top. Im going to focus in particular on the nations capital, and the public buildings on the mall, which is after all, the centerpiece of american political culture, and our public culture, where people come from all around the world, and the country to participate in government, to learn about government, to understand our heritage. So i thought what is it we say to those people when they come to washington . What have been some of the controversies . What are some of the issues we should be aware of . And what is missing . S
There is no such thing as free labor right . That doesnt make sense. Could you help us understand, what do you mean, what do scholars mean by free labor . Mr. Luskey thanks for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about this book. It is a question my students, even after having me teach the concept to them, they still have trouble understanding. Free labor ideology came together as a set of ideas, most clearly in the 1850s, around a new political party, the republican party, and what the ideas at the heart of this ideology proposed was that wage labor, as it existed in northern states, was a superior economic and social system to southern slavery. It was a system, in its ideal form, that allowed workers the opportunity to make a contract with the employer of their choice, and to save their earnings to become independent. And this was something that was not available to enslaved people in the southern states. It is art of an attempt to rehabilitate wage labor, which many w
Cspan2. Im eric foner, Professor Emeritus of history at Columbia University coming to you from the study in my apartment opposite Columbia University in new york city im here to talk about the second founding, my book about the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments of the u. S. Constitution which were were ratified during the period of reconstruction immediately after the american civil war. The title of the book actually explains the argument the second founding. My argument is that these three amendments created a new constitution, they were not just additions to an existing structure. The 15th amendment tried to guarantee the right of africanamerican men to vote throughout the entire country. All three of these amendments have abthere were compromises it was the 15th amendment that expanded the right to vote to africanamerican men. They created the constitution we are living with today, the 14th amendment has been the 21st century where through which the courts have tremendously expanded t
Hardy. Tonight, we are in tara hot in the museum. Let me introduce you to one of our guests with us throughout the program tonight. Earnest free bird is a debs biographer. Its been 85 years since debs died. Why would we care about him . He was one of the most important labor leaders and in a crucial time of conflict between labor and capital. He was the central figure in the socialist movement at a time when it was a viable and growing part of the american political culture. Is he interesting as a snapshot in time . Where does he have a Lasting Legacy . Like many Third Party Candidates he and his fellow socialist managed to move the conversation and import directions that have affected the development of american democracy ever since. In that regard, he is of his time, but also having a long impact. Well have time to delve into some of the elections more deeply later on. Of the five bids he made for the white house, are any particularly significant . Two for different reasons. The 1912
Will look at the progressive era, a period of, you know, a lot of labor unrest, the Industrial Workers of the world, the Womens Suffrage Movement coming to the fore, municipal reform, many other things. But today our subject is the socialist party, the rise of socialism as a key element of american radicalism in the early 20th century. We told him we were in the Suffrage Movement and the various times of socialism at that time. From 1860 at least onward, there had been some kind of socialist presence in the United States, but largely confined to immigrants from europe, particularly germans, english. The emergence of a mass social movement with a real base in the american political system followed and defeat of the populist party in the 1890s. The inheritors of 19th century radicalism were forced to kind of think about new ways confronting the problems and the inequities of the rapidly changing Industrial Society of that time. Socialism was typically untheoretical. Unlike european or ot