Described by various historians as contentious, tumultuous, dangerous, and even the worst in history. What made it so . Susan on the face of it is what you have to recognize is this was the most consequential election transition in American History. The central issue, of course, is that several Southern States did not recognize the election of Abraham Lincoln as a legitimate. It considered him a sectional president for the fact that by and large to support came from nonslave states and no sooner had he been elected that South Carolina makes good on its promise to proceed toward seceding from the union on the grounds that the election did not represent its interest. Host lets set the stage for the transition. James buchanan had announced that he would be a one term president , but we did a regular president ial Leadership Survey and James Buchanan always falls at the bottom of the list as the worst leader in american president ial history. How would you characterize his leadership skill
Historian susan schulten, our country has experienced several fraught president ial transitions but the 1860 transition between James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln is described by various historians as contentious, tumultuous, dangerous, and even the worst in history. What made it so . Susan on the face of it is what you have to recognize is this was the most consequential election transition in American History. The central issue, of course, is that several Southern States did not recognize the election of Abraham Lincoln as a legitimate. It considered him a sectional president for the fact that by and large his support came from nonslave states and no sooner had he been elected that South Carolina makes good on its promise to proceed toward seceding from the union on the grounds that the election did not represent its interest. Host lets set the stage for the transition. James buchanan had announced that he would be a one term president , but we did a regular president ial Leadership
You can cherry picked certain things, but later on during his presidency he gains quite deep respect and affection even springfield. He lived in the neighborhood, this was back in illinois, a neighborhood that was full of africanericans. He became friendly to them and he kept corresponding with several of them while he was in the wte house. While he was in the white house Frederick Douglass who was at first thought he was quite conservative of slary that in a couple of timesn the white house and really was astounded. He came out of this thing, this is the least prejudiced white person i think ive ever met. The same thing with sojourner truth. She was an oer africanamerican feminist and she said before i die i want to et this guy, this president abraham lincoln. Sh had a delightful time with him and felt very, very close to hi Martin Delaney who was, we would call him beyond black lives matter. Heas like a black nationalist. Very militant. He became at the end of the war, lioln appointe
Please take a minute to silence your phones before we begin. While you are doing so, we have a fair number of members with us tonight. Supporters of president lincolns cottage. In seeing some of the names on the list, i wanted to take a moment to recognize two members who have been dedicated supporters since before we were open to the public. Eric reese has been a member for 12 years. Can you raise your hand . [applause] and thank you to all the other members tonight. I did want to name everyone but i thought the fact since the two of you have been getting since before we open was special, so thank you. At that conclusion, we invite you to the book signing which will be downstairs in the library. Joining us tonight is Sidney Blumenthal and jamie raskin to discuss mr. Blumenthals new book, the third volume in his series on the 16th president. Sidney blumenthal is the author of a selfmade man and wrestling with his angel, the first two volumes in his biography, the political life of Abra
Hello. My name is kai bird. And executive director of the leon leavy center for biography at City University of new york, and we are sponsored by the Leavy Foundation when we do events like this to promote the arts and crafts a biography among other things. We had been a sponsor of the National Book festival for some years, and were here on a session with of the 20th anniversary i chose of the National Book festival and the theme this year is american ingenuity. We are going to be talking tonight with two notable intellectuals, Harold Holzer is one of the countries leading lincoln scholars big is currently the director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at hunter college. Ted widmer is himself the author of eight books. Professor is now on the faculty of holy Honors College for today will be discussing his latest book, lincoln on the verge, story about a 13 day train journey that lincoln took from illinois to washington, d. C. , to be inaugurated as president. These are two