I want to thank representative gerald connollys office for aranging the room, the 11th district of virginia for electing representative mcconnolly since hes been generous enough to be doing this and i want to thank the History Center for doing are had the work. The national History Center offers these briefings because everything has a history and when some of those everythings are within the realm of public policy, then its our obligation as historians to provide the Historical Context essential to inform, debate and decision making. That obligation forms the sole position in these briefings. Were not here to convince anybody of any particular legislation. Were here because understanding the implications of change and hence shaping its direction requires understanding it changes that have brought us to this juncture in the first place. And weve discussed in these meeting rooms the histories of immigration, Civil Military relations, executive orders, social security, commerce in outer
Life and times. This is just over an hour. Im john eleff, president of the Lincoln Group of the District Of Columbia. The Lincoln Group has existed since the 1930s to honor the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. And this year we have a special opportunity to hear from an extraordinary speaker. And in introducing him i would like to repeat something that he said at the First National Republican Convention that he attended as a young man in 1884. He was part of a reform wing of the Republican Party, and they had an insurgent candidate to be temporary chair of the convention, taking on the candidacy of the Republican National committee. That candidate happened to be the africanamerican congressmen from mississippi, john r. Lynch, and here is somewhere of what our speaker said. It is now less than a quarter of a century this this great city organized it is a fitting thing for us to choose to preside over this convention. One of that race whose right to sit within these walls is due to the
Availability of the webbs to be able to travel as they wished, to go to their summer home, the to go to their summer home and down to new york city mayor , and to other areas around of the country. It was billed for shelburne, however, and is served Passenger Rail service up until 1953. When that stopped at that point, Passenger Rail service in this region. And it was then given to the museum for posteritys sake, to allow people to be able to see it. It is exhibited with much of the Railroad Memorabilia that is seen in these stations. Of the founders collection at the time. It was moved overland from shelburne here to the museum, which is not far away. It is probably a little less than a mile, one of the shortest moves for the building of the shelburne museum. This is a traveling Passenger Rail car at the grand isle, built in 1899 by the palace wagner car company just before it changed ownership to the Pullman Company at that time. The president of the Rutland Railroad, dr. William sew
And in those several capacities, its a pleasure for me to welcome all of you attending this symposium in person. As well as our audience on cspan to this Second Annual symposium on constitutional issues. This year, we examine the 15th amendment and invite a conversation as our Program States on suffrage in light of the hopes and realities of american identity and governance. In many ways this university is the ideal venue for such a conversation. Envisioned as a Great National episcopal institution by a group of founding bishops in the 1850s, the university of the south by 1860 possessed more than 6,000 acres of land on the Cumberland Plateau in tennessee. It had an endowment half the size of harvards. I often think with my regents about what that would mean for us today. We wouldnt be lamenting an 8 return. And saw itself, in that vision, with colleges of different sizes, schools of law and medicine and business and theology. Saw itself indeed as americas first truly comprehensive pri
Fruit long after their passing. It is also important to remember the contributions of any and play ands and sizes vital role to supporting the work we do here at the center, and that includes student research, fellowships, travel, and public programming and public education. Thank all of our friends at the center who are here today, and this eating an event on the topic of civil religion, i salute you as well. For those of you who are just learning about the centers work or if this is one of our first times if this is why your first times attending our talks, we want to make sense of the past, the current moment, and to shape our shared future. I would encourage you to become a friend of the center. There are envelopes touted around the room, stuck to the bottom scattered around the room, stuck to the bottom of your shoe. There are assignments as a table at the tables on the entryways that you can take with you. I would be remiss if i did not think the outstanding staff that works at t