All right. Good evening. Im peter carmichael. I am a professor of history at Gettysburg College and also the director of the civil war institute. Its my pleasure this evening to be moderator and panelist for this session on the anatomy of a lost cause. Joining me, to my immediate right is keith bohannon. Keith is an assistant professor of history at west georgia university. Keith has very long experience in the historical profession. He started off as a seasonal historian, actually as a volunteer at kennesaw National Military park when he was a teenager. A teenager. And during that time, he also did Extensive Research in georgia archives. There simply is not another person who knows more about georgia during the civil war than keith bohannon. He finished his ph. D. At penn state, started under Gary Gallagher, who then moved on to the university of West Virginia and then mark nealy was keiths adviser. To the right of keith is katy meier. Daty is an assistant professor. She just received
Pennsylvanians cares at all, at least in terms of the slave, was defending fugitive slaves and taking no fee. If im mott mistaken in the 1838 Constitutional Convention when pennsylvania decided to take the right of voting away from blacks who until then had that right, there was only one member who refused to sign that constitution and that was Thaddeus Stevens. The father of the Public School system of pennsylvania, the great voice for equality and the great commoner. He is a man who deserves great credit and great honor and i dont have to tell you as well that Thaddeus Stevens when he died in 1868 would tell a reporter the great pity of my life is i have lived long and so uselessly. For he believed then that reconstruction would not be able to survive. The commitment was not there. When this man died we had him buried in the back church yards. He said i reside here in this quiet spot, not from a desire of seclusion, but finding that every other cemetery makes a bar on the basis of ra
University. Keith has long experience in the historical profession. He started off as a seasonal historian, actually as a volunteer at kennesaw National Military park when he was a teenager. A teenager. And during that time, he also did Extensive Research in georgia archives. There simply is not another person who knows more about georgia during the civil war than keith bohannon. He finished his ph. D. At penn state, started under Gary Gallagher, who then moved on to the university of West Virginia and then mark nealy was keiths adviser. To the right of keith is katy meier. She is an assistant professor she just received her promotion excuse me, i just said assistant, i meant to say associate professor at virginia commonwealth university. Katy is a graduate or i should say a student of Gary Gallagher at the university of virginia, where she completed her dissertation, became a book called natures civil war and its published by university of North Carolina press. If any of you have any
Each provides the historian with a wealth of insights, at each informs my presentation tonight. Heres what im going to talk about. I focus on the faithful series of events in late 1860 and early 1861, when a president ial election triggered a grave crisis, and before long, a civil war. Let us hope that history never repeats itself. But let us remember that any durable electoral system has attributes that we dare not take for granted. It presupposes some degree of shared values. Presupposes that you accept the legitimacy of your opponents , and that you accept the verdict of the voters. That Political Parties behave responsibly. And be prepared to govern. It presupposes the Neither Party nominated and on horseback who might try not been to the entire system. End thet try to up entire system. It presupposes the bullets never replace ballots. I will organize this into four topics. Lincoln and the Republican Party. I will try to answer several key questions. What did lincoln and the republ
Willing to accept it in order to preserve the union. The New York Historical society and the bryant park reading room cohosted this event. It is an hour and half. Thank you, alex castle and paul marineau, and thanks to the Bryant Park Corporation and the bryant park reading room, and the hsbc corporation, and all else who made it possible for me to appear here tonight. Its a particular privilege to speak here in new york city. Already, 1860, as it remains today, new york was the nerve center of the nation. The herald, the tribune, the times, the three most influential and widely read newspapers in the United States were published right here. Each provides the historian with a wealth of insights, at each informs my presentation tonight. Heres what im going to talk about. I focus on the faithful series of events in late 1860 and early 1861, when a president ial election triggered a grave crisis, and before long, a civil war. Let us hope that history never repeats itself. But let us remem