Transcripts For CSPAN3 Abraham Lincoln And Immigration 20160702

His recent work lincoln and the immigrant is a volume in a Concise Lincoln Library series. It was released in september. Of the more than 16,500 volumes 16,500 and counting volumes published on Abraham Lincoln, this is the first fulllength study of its kind. Dr. Silverman received his undergraduate degree at the university of virginia and his graduate degree at Colorado State and the university of kentucky. He has received many distinguished teaching awards. He is currently working on a companion volume detailing president lincolns reputation in 19thcentury europe. He also served to elected terms of his local school board. Lets welcome professor jason silverman. [applause] professor silverman thank you so much. That last part about the eight years on the Rock Hill School board, forget about all my education, that is where i learned the real meaning of the civil war. [laughter] professor silverman i have been interested in Abraham Lincoln since the fourth grade. We had a parents night which we were going to do silent vignettes. Amelia ehrhardt, iwo jima, signing of the declaration of independence. All sorts of things. One of the silent vignettes would be the Lincoln Douglas debates. My fourth grade teacher told me you cant be Abraham Lincoln, you are not tall enough. To add insult to injury, she said, you have to be Stephen Douglas. [laughter] professor silverman i swore that i would study Abraham Lincoln for the rest of my life and try to make a contribution. I am a product of the virginia Public Schools and i can tell you that very little of Abraham Lincoln was said flatteringly in the state of virginia as i was growing up. But those comments were glowing compared to what i can countered when i into South Carolina in 1984. One of my proudest accomplishments in the fact that i have been teaching courses to packed classrooms on Abraham Lincoln in the state of South Carolina which i dont think its a small accomplishment whatsoever. [applause] professor silverman im going to tell you what i tell my students before each class. Come back with me in history, fasten your seatbelts, were going to take a Magic Carpet Ride tonight through the study of Abraham Lincoln and his relationship with immigrants. May 4, 1865. Oak ridge cemetery. Springfield, illinois. The weather is warm in the sun is peeking through the clouds. The day is peaceful and a slight wind to the west. Everybody in springfield is on the street. Silent and mournful. Their sorrow is all encompassing. They dont know where to go or what to do. The landscape is beautiful and has been especially cared for on this occasion. The clergyman is a tall academic sort who spoke with a softness that belied his younger, evangelical days. Bishop Matthew Simpson was delivering the funeral sermon. He quoted the deceased in words of deep conviction, words that spoke of a great work to be done. They conjured up the spectre of the evil of the land. Broken by it i may be, bow to it i never will. The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause that we believe to be just. It shall not deter me. If i ever feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not unholy worthy of the almighty architect. It is when i contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside an eye, standing up boldly alone hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. The declaration was that of a young Abraham Lincoln on the day after christmas 1839. The bishop interpreted his text anyway and authority that seemed wholly natural to the mourning nation. Here was a testament of the beloved marcher dedicating himself in his youth to the great slave power. Fighting that with all of his energy. Bishop simpson quoted lincoln accurately. He had unearthed a longlost stage that would soon be lost again. He did make one error. His speech had nothing to do with slavery, its subject was banking, industry and immigrant labor. The log cabin labor and industry. The combination should not surprise us. In more than three decades in public life lincoln probably talked more about economics and labor, use the terms broadly, than any other issues, slavery included. The bulk of his discussions with an economic focus preceded his period of fame. The main lines of his thinking survive as to frequently the details. Immigration, Abraham Lincoln . Absolutely. He lived in an era when it was as much a controversy as it is today. Between 18401860, or. 5 million 4. 5 million newcomers arrived. Most of them from ireland. The german states and scandinavian countries. Many more crossed back and forth across the border with mexico. From an early age, lincoln developed an awareness and tolerance for different people and different cultures. While no doubt a product of his time, lincoln nevertheless refused to allow his environment to blind him to the strength of diversity and throughout his legal and political career, he retained an affinity for immigration. Especially the irish, the germans, the jews and the scandinavians. Indeed, immigrants and their plight were never far from his thoughts or plans. His travels down the Mississippi River to the port of new orleans exposed lincoln to the sites, sounds, and tastes of a world hitherto he could only have dreamed about. More importantly, it established the foundation and sympathy for the rest of his life when it came to foreignborn as well as to the enslaved. It mustve been an odd sight to see that tall, lanky boy sailing down the mississippi with his companions looking wideeyed and in awe of everything he saw. Just 22 years old and finally free of the obligations to his father and farm. Lincoln set off from illinois h on a flatboat journey with his stepbrother and cousin and employer. Sailing on what must have been an amusing sight, a log cabin on a raft with barrels and logs and hogs. Lincoln, john johnston, john hanks, and dennis set off on the adventure of a lifetime. For the first time in his young life, Abraham Lincoln was traveling far. What he would see would shape and his thoughts for the remainder of his life. During this trip, lincoln would first come in contact with foreigners in the exotic city of new orleans. Although he probably couldnt and did not distinguish italians from spaniards, norwegians, russians, he encountered them all. The great cosmopolitan city. He realized for the first time in his young life that immigrants from many lands formed a significant part of the american population. Lincolns two flatboat voyages to new orleans were exceptionally important in his development. They formed the longest journeys of his life. His first experiences in a major city. His only visits to the deep south, his sole exposure to the regions brand of slavery and slave trading. His only time in the tropics and his only time in the subtropics and the closest he ever came to immersing himself in a foreign culture. Lincoln never wrote or spoke much of his trips. But anybody who studies lincoln gets frustrated because this is a man who was as secretive as they come, who kept no journal, who kept no diary and those of us who study Abraham Lincoln, you think you know him and he slips right out of your hands , and you dont know anything about him and you have to start all over again. Others read about his trips. His cousin john hanks joined lincoln on his second trip in 1831. Lincolns eventual law partner and biographer recorded the hanks had said in may we landed in new orleans. I can say knowingly that it was on this trip that he formed his opinions. It ran its iron in him then and there. I heard him say that often and often. Lincolns two flatboat journeys expose him for weeks on end to the vastness of the american landscape. No subsequent travels whatever match the length of these journeys and they also immersed him in the subject of the relationship between transportation and Economic Development in the west. He understood and preached that a better form of transportation would improve the Economic Life of the state of illinois. It would raise Living Standards for all and enhance property values. His return is also showed him that by controlling unsettle remains in the state of illinois, you could accelerate immigration. He resided in the sparsely populated region. It was understandable for Abraham Lincoln that wealth and population were synonymous to him. Immigrants would bring Economic Growth and all that it implied. Seeing america firsthand from a flatboat had a young age transfixed on Abraham Lincoln the core of his whig party believes. Free labor, transportation, modernization, internal improvements and most assuredly, they need to attract immigrants. Lincolns trip to new orleans also represented his first and only journey deep into the slave south and in two places where enslaved africanamericans not only abounded, but predominated overwhelmingly. New orleans ranked as the largest city Young Lincoln had ever seen and it would remain so until he stepped on the National Stage as a young congressman in 1848. More importantly, it represented the most ethnically diverse and culturally foreign city in the united states. And two places where enslaved africanamericans predominated, but abounded overwhelmingly. New orleans was the largest city Young Lincoln at everett set seen and it would remain so until 1848. More importantly, it represented the most ethnically diverse and culturally foreign city in the united states. While lincoln would take a day trip to Niagara Falls canada in canada falls, Niagara Falls, canada in 1857, new orleans would really represent the closest Abraham Lincoln ever came to entering another country. I have been to Niagara Falls, and that is a stretch to say youre going to another country. I have been to new orleans and it is not a stretch. While lincoln occasionally encountered french or Spanish Speaking immigrants. Or catholics or catholicism, in his early years in indiana or illinois or on the ohio river, lincolns trip to new orleans engulfed him a different cultures ethnicity and ancestry, religion, language, race, class, cuisine, architecture and sheer urban size. It gave him the perspective that no other place in his life would provide. Into the midst of this complex and Political Landscape art the young Abraham Lincoln in 1828 walked a young Abraham Lincoln in 1828 and again in 1831. There was ethnic tension everywhere that he went in new orleans. The streets, conversation and local press. Local newspapers were filled with prejudice and scorn for one group or another. Editors promise to the readers that their principles would be purely american, whatever that meant. An obvious portend to the know Nothing Party that would arise and 1850s to exploit american xenophobia. Lincoln would have been present in new orleans was going on and he would have seen firsthand that some immigrants in the city were discriminated against by a large element of other people. Lincoln was present when the creoles suffered at the hands of americans who would eventually become members of the know Nothing Party. Where alliances were established between them and the german and irish immigrants. The creoles became an object of scorn. There treatment had an enormous effect on Abraham Lincoln. The prejudice of a group because of who they are, what they look like and how they sound would last Abraham Lincoln a lifetime. In new orleans, he saw the largest concentration of free peoples of color and the best educated people of african ancestry anywhere. Lincoln understood this. And he was enthralled by the multitudes of cultures that he first witnessed in the largely foreignborn and catholic population. Later in life, he would remember what he saw and he would forcefully oppose nativist movements of the 1850s and the know Nothing Party. In fact, there was a part of new orleans that even followed lincoln back to springfield. William billy floorville, a free black a french ancestry found new orleans to be hostile place for free people of color in 1820s. Fearing kidnapping and enslavement, he fled new orleans for st. Louis and that he found his way up the Illinois River in 1831. While approaching the village of salem, a county history records, he overtook a man wearing a red flannel shirt. A tall man was he and caring and an ax on his shoulder. They fell into conversation and they walked to a Little Grocery store together. The tall man was Abraham Lincoln who soon learn that the stranger was a barber and he was out of money. Mr. Lincoln took him to his boarding house and told the people that this man needed help and his business needed support. That opened the way for an evenings work along the borders as they allowed him to cut their hair. Lincoln was taken with him and he convinced him to stay and settle in illinois. He stayed and he married and raised a family and prospered as a barber to hundreds of springfield men and children including lincoln who knew him him endearingly as billy the barber. Over the years, lincoln enjoyed many conversations at the barbershop. About new orleans, immigrants, slavery, life on the Mississippi River. He was bilingual, catholic, french, african, haitian, american, and he became lincolns friend. Their conversations were of substance and certainly the foundations of a genuine friendship. Late in 1863, he wrote lincoln and warm letter of gratitude for the emancipation proclamation that had gone in effect the year before. I thought it might not be improper for one so humble in life to address the president of the united states, he wrote. Yet i do so feeling that if it is received by you, it will be received with pleasure as a communication from your dear friend billy the barber. In all likelihood, he first learned from the situation in haiti through billy the barber. And the conditions that he told him when they first met in 1831. Coincidentally, ironically maybe, three decades later, president Abraham Lincoln established diplomatic relations with the independent caribbean nation of haiti. Thanks to billy the barber. Ironically, it was because connection with the port of new orleans and the efforts of several immigrants that the great emancipator freed one of the first people of color, john shelby, in one of billy the barbers fellow africanamerican barbers while traveling in new orleans in 1856 who found the same hostility that billy had found. Not having the proper papers, he was arrested and imprisoned. Somehow, shelby may contact with a springfield raised new orleans attorney by the name of Benjamin Jonas. Shelby suggested that he contact a prominent lawyer back home in illinois whose influence might help him get released. The lawyer recognize the name Abraham Lincoln because he was a friend of jonass father, a man by the name of Abraham Jonas was one of the first jewish settlers in and around springfield, illinois. Word spread upriver to his mother and to lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was very much moved , wrote one of his early biographers, and requested that he go to the statehouse and inquire of governor William Henry bussell if there was not something that could be done to obtain the possession of the negro. He came with a report that the governor had no legal or constitutional right to do anything in new orleans in the state of louisiana. At which point mr. Lincoln rose to his feet and great excitement and explained i will have that negro back soon or i will have 20 years agitation in illinois until the governor does have a legal and constitutional right to do something in the premises. Wouldnt it be nice if politicians spoke like that today . [laughter] professor silverman he knew that new orleans in the state of louisiana had the right on their side. They drafted 60. 30 out of the metropolitan bank of new york and on may 27, 1857, said the funds from their springfield law office to Benjamin Jonas office in new orleans. He paid the fine and by early june, shelbys release occurred and he made his way safely back to springfield. John selby us thus became one of the first africanamerican ever freed by Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln regarded Abraham Jonas as i quote, one of my most valuable and trusted friends. And their friendship dated back to the 1830s, their french did it back to the 1830s. Lincoln never forgot nor did he the role of their friendship in his personal development of his experiences in the port of new orleans and those of the flat Boat Operator play. Many times when he was on the campaign trail lincoln would portray his flat boat voyages as a dues paying experience, assuring anybody who would listen that he was a man of the people because he was of the people. It would astonish, if not amuse, the older citizens of york york county that lincoln on the campaign trail to 12 years ago new me as a strange, friendless uneducated boy working on a flat boat at 10 per month to learn that ive been put down here for the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction. I can assure you that i am not an aristocrat. 20 years later, lincoln returned to the same theme, free society is such that a poor man knows he can better his conditions. He knows there is no fixed condition of his labor for his whole life. Im not ashamed to confess that 25 years ago, i was a hired laborer, mulling rails. What might happen to any poor mans son . On a personal and littleknown episode, he became friends with the reverend lars paul esborn , who was a professor at illinois university, a Lutheran School in springfield. Oldest son, robert, attended some of his classes and lincoln frequently called on the professor to discuss his son s studies and this reminds me all too frequently of some classes ive had over a number of years. Robert at that time was not an enthusiastic student. He needed to be motivated. I can relate to that. I assure you. Lincoln served on the board of directors of the school. Esborn have political experience as member of the city council. He was an outspoken opponent of strong drink and slavery and lincoln took a liking to him. They shared similar political beliefs. He became a loyal, consistent supporter both in the press and on the stump. His sons enlisted in the union army with one of them being the first swedish soldier to fall in battle during the american civil war. Before we start patting lincoln on the back, we need to realize that like so many in the mid19th century, lincolns philosophy of immigrants was far more complicated than merely that which pertains to a labor economy. Abraham lincoln was a product of his times. And of his environment. Despite whatever economic advantages immigrants might represent, many men of his era saw ethnic groups, immigrant groups, monolithically whether irish, jewish, german, or swedish, they saw these immigrants as all the same and painted them with a very broad brush. To his credit, lincoln tended to perceive each individual and each group as distinctive in its own right. Because he saw the diversity and value of diversity, he did not assign them as foreigners or savages. His relationship with individuals of different ethnicities as well as groups his relationship with individuals of different ethnicities as well as groups many times was as inconsistent as the man himself. Like most westerners, lincoln had a low opinion of latin American Civilization and his references to hispanics were never very flattering. In his debate with Stephen Douglas, lincoln attacked the concept that Stephen Douglas believed in so fervently. Popular sovereignty. Douglas notion that people in a territory should define for themselves whether they wanted slavery. Lincoln asked a hypothetical question, whether douglas would apply popular sovereignty to mexico where the inhabitants were nonwhite. When we shall get mexico, lincoln asserted, i do not know whether judge douglas will be in favor of the mexican people because we know the judge has a great horror for mongrels and i understand that the people of mexico are most decidedly a race of mongrels. Lincoln continued by explaining i understand that there is not more than one person there out of eight who is pure white. I suppose from the judges declaration that when we get mexico or a considerable portion of that, he will be in favor of the mongrels, settling the question. That would bring him somewhat in collision with his horror of an inferior race. Even if you make allowance for the fact that some of these comments occurred by Abraham Lincoln in a hotly contested debate in which there was a great deal of race baiting, lincoln still used derogatory comments about hispanics when apparently there was not any motive. In describing cubans, lincoln pulled no punches. Their butchery seemed to me most unnecessary and inhuman. They were fighting against one of the worst governments in the world, the spanish, but the thought was that the real people of cuba had not asked for their assistance. They were not fit for it or for civil liberties. Later, in another speech, extolling the brilliance of Young America and comparing it with old fogie countries the older i get, the less i like that phrase. [laughter] abraham will have to work on that. Lincoln concluded but for the difference in the habit of observation, why did yankees almost instantly discover gold in california which had been trodden upon and overlooked by indians and mexican greasers for centuries . Yes. It was in this same speech that Abraham Lincoln made one of his few remarks about the people of asia. The nonwhite group with which he had the least acquaintance and the least opportunity to think about. For one that had never been to asia or arguably outside of the united states, lincoln prejudicially claimed that intellectual curiosity and scientific progress was the exclusive domain of the western world. He recognized that asia was the birth place of the human family and he concluded that asians, like africanamericans, or were indeed human beings. But he believed that asia was an ancient, crumbling civilization whose time had passed. The human family originated somewhere in asia, lincoln said, and have worked their way principally westward. Just now in civilization and in the arts, the people in asia are entirely behind those of europe. Those of the east of europe. Behind those of the west of it. While we here in america think we discover and invent and improve faster than any of them. I think maybe when he said that, lincoln recognized that he was on a bit of thin ice because he said they may think this is arrogance but they cannot deny that russia has called on us to show her how to build steamboats and railroads while in other parts of asia they scarcely know that steamboats and railroads exist. In anciently inhabited countries, the dust of ages, a real downright old fogeyism seems to smother the intellectual energies of man. While neither respecting nor appreciating the cultures of asia or latin america, lincoln, like many 19th century nationalist, hand or to his audience by emphasizing the attributes and virtues of the united states. At the expense of degrading other people, it was lincolns intention to convince his fellow countrymen that their nation would be next on the great stage of history. And it was a successful strategy to flatter voters into thinking about the ascent into national prominence. Lincoln did put his money where his mouth was. And it was just recently discovered that during his one term as a member of the house of representatives, he, like many other americans, contributed 10, which is roughly 500 in todays money, to the Irish Relief Fund during the great famine. Maybe this was because lincolns First Teacher in kentucky had been of irish descent. He was described as a man of excellent character coming deep piety, and fair education. He had been raised a catholic but made no attempt to proselytize. The great president always mentioned him in terms of grateful respect, wrote one of his early biographers. Whether the teacher left a lasting impression on lincoln or not, lincoln was always interested in irish culture. He knew and recited Robert Emmets speech from the dock by memory. Especially the closing words when my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then and not until then, let my epitaph be written i have done. Lincolns favorite ballad was helen selena, the lament of the irish immigrant set to music. Many of lincolns quips, as a politician, often resorted to irish analogies. Sometimes, they were caustic and perhaps a bit insulting, to make a point. His first recorded jibe about a poor irish man comes from one of his congressional speeches on the need for sensible improvements when he described an irishman who got a pair of new boots. According to lincoln, i shall never get them on, said patrick until i wear them a day or two and stretch them out a bit. Late in the war, an observer recalled that lincoln said there was a Cabinet Meeting in the afternoon. General grant who had just returned gave a very interesting account of the state of the south and the good feeling manifested by the officers of the confederate army. They all said they were ready to lay down their guns and go home. And then lincoln said some of you just said something about hunting up old jeff davis. Well, i for one hope he would be like paddies flea, when they get his fingers on them, he just would not be there. This comment was consistent with his desire to avoid show trials or any kind of punitive commissions. He wanted reconciliation. Lincoln often used jokes, many times ethnic ones, to soften a message of mercy or to conceal a willful blindness to past wrongs. These just comparatively speaking, to his contemporaries were not very racist or harsh and they show an awareness for the poor mans plight, chiding him mildly for his poverty and traditions. Doubtless in that day, nearly everyone, most especially poor immigrants, understood the problems of fleas and ill fitting footwear. Lincoln, when he became a member of the Republican Party, vastly opposed anything that the know nothings stood for. Any attempt to change naturalization laws, Abraham Lincoln opposed. He advocated that a full and efficient protection of the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native, or naturalized, both at home and abroad, he guaranteed. Throughout his life, there was no group closer to him than the germans. They supported him from the very beginning and actively participated in his campaigns. Lincoln enjoyed the germans and he enjoyed their culture. On the way to cincinnati, as president elect, he stopped one night and he was in his hotel room. Outside, a group of german workingmen came to serenade him. One observer wrote that mr. Lincoln had put off a melancholy mood that had controlled him that day. And he was entertaining those workers. Lincoln went to his balcony to find nearly 2000 more of the substantial german citizens who had voted for him because they believed him to be a stout champion of free labor and free homestead. The germans liked Abraham Lincoln. They concluded by saying that if you ever need us, we stand ready to risk our lives in the effort to maintain the victory that you now seek over slavery and it was soon prove that when the war came, the germans surely delivered on their promise. Lincoln understood immigrants. As a lawyer practicing land law at times a politician representing a rural district, he had to Pay Attention to the National Debate over the future of public lands. To the issues linked to real estate taxes. To the relationship between town and country. To the importance of the foreignborn as their presence increased in the American Labor force. Lincoln knew firsthand what it meant to be poor and he knew firsthand what america represented as a land of opportunity where somebody could rise to become president of the united states. And so his commitment to the American Dream, as lincoln liked to think of it, existed his entire political life. Lincoln possessed an enormous amount of sympathy for the many poor, as he called them, since he himself had long since been one. His compassion materialized into a fullblown political ideology that lincoln carried into the white house. He believed that the civil war would represent opportunity. The war drastically reduced the number of immigrants. At first, the Lincoln Administration of attempted to meet the difficulty through unofficial state department efforts. But lincoln knew that was not sufficient. By the end of 1860 three, he 1863, he the end of asked congress for assistance. In his annual message to congress in december, 1863, he spoke of immigrants as a source of national wealth. Tens of thousands of persons, destitute of remunerative occupation, desire to come to america but they needed assistance to do so. He asked congress to pass a bill and Congress Responded on july 4, 1864, with the first, last, and only time america passed a law to encourage immigration. Lincolns act to encourage immigration was a signature piece of legislation that many of you who i know have been familiar with the celebration of the civil war, went by without a single moments attention. Lincoln knew that immigrants played a major role in the building of Industrial America and to his dying day, he related to the immigrant in a manner that few of his contemporaries would or could. He told an amusing story. About being poor and being able to relate to immigrants. Once again, he went back to his flat boat voyage. Eight dollars a month he earned and he owned one pair of buckskin breeches. If you know the nature of buckskin when wet and dry in the sun, he reminisced, it will shrink. And my breeches kept shrinking until they left several inches of my legs bare between the tops of my socks and the lower part of my breeches. While i was growing taller, they were becoming shorter and so much tighter that they left a blue streak around my legs that could be seen to this day. If you call this aristocracy, i plead guilty to the charge. To lincoln, america was the land of opportunity and he welcomed immigrants to the shores long before the words were immortalized on the statue of liberty by lazarus. To lincoln, the son of a poor farmer, barely literate, to rise to the presidency meant that anybody with a chance, with selfdetermination and selfmotivation, could rise as he had. Lincoln often spoke about his past. But he also spoke about the future. The act to encourage immigration was passed. Lincoln did not live to see the attack on it by politicians and by Labor Union Leaders who had it all but repealed by 1868. First, last, and only law in American History encouraging immigrants. This is a time to think about Abraham Lincoln. This is a timeframe in American History to understand Abraham Lincoln and recognize what he stood for. Oftentimes, when he was in the telegraph office, pacing or pondering and driving the awestruck soldiers serving their crazies with news, at the end of the day with a shawl around him, he stood up and would say well, boys, i am down to the raisins. Which meant he had completed his task. I think i am down to the raisins, right now. I would like to thank each and every one of you for being such a wonderfully attentive audience. It was a great honor to address the lincoln group. Thank you so much. [applause] does anyone have questions for our speaker . Lincolns approach to the know nothing voters did he denounce them . Mr. Silverman he was asked on a number of occasions, what is your strategy . How do you want to welcome these people . He said that he would welcome the know nothings if they would accept in its entirety the republican platform which does not include exclusion. And so, when lincolns people went out and campaigned and someone would say what does your boy think about immigration . Lincoln instructed them to tell them that there would be no prejudice at all based on immigration and ethnicity. They were more than welcome to vote for the republican ticket, meeting him, but they should not expect that there was going to be any one group preferable over another. And if he had his way, they should expect there to be significant encouragement to immigration to fill the labor shortage that the civil war created. So, he did not turn anyone away. If you vote republican and you enter the Republican Party, you enter a party based on our platform, not yours. I am glad you brought the germanamerican community in. Isnt it true that he bought a german newspaper in order to get some german votes . Mr. Silverman superb question. Lincoln was a politician. In his defense, i do not use that in the nasty sense that i might describe someone today as a politician. But lincoln understood and there was a german newspaper, several german newspapers in illinois at the time and one was going bankrupt. The editor was a man by the name of theodore canisius. Lincoln said i will buy the press, the machinery, i will buy everything and you can continue your newspaper in german, as long as you do not violate one aspect of the Republican Party platform. And so consequently, the transaction was struck. The editor, who liked Abraham Lincoln, and in fact would have a diplomatic position, published the newspaper. Basically, it was a republican outreach to the german population in and around springfield, illinois designed so that they could read in their native language that lincoln was the proper candidate and they would get what they needed from lincoln. The sad part of all of this is that not one single issue of that newspaper exists. Nobody has found a single issue of that newspaper. Thank you for this wonderful address. I was interested in your dust of ages comments. Did he meet any asian people . Mr. Silverman not many. But he did meet two young men over the course of five or six years who had come to the united states, settled in the San Francisco area, made their way eastward, and became part of a Congressional Group that came to the white house to meet to meet Abraham Lincoln. That was the extent of it. That was a short conversation. Basically, his comments about asia was based on very little experience and virtually no firsthand knowledge. The interesting thing about lincoln is that you have to recognize him, warts and all. Consequently, in his era, he was enlightened and progressive but he had a few blind spots. His quotes i read you tonight indicated that. Is there anything in your research that indicates he addressed any of these groups of immigrants in their language . Today, advertisements are in the language to communicate to the immigrants. Did lincoln ever speak french . Mr. Silverman an excellent question. He did not. Because he knew a number of the germans, they actually encouraged him to sit in on a class to learn the german language. And so, lincoln learned a couple of words and a phrase. What he liked to say when he spoke to someone with that he was fluent in german. Most of the accounts that i read said that he liked to tell stories more than he liked to listen and learn german. That is the closest he ever came to being bilingual. Did lincoln have any platforms or profound thoughts on native americans . Mr. Silverman when i first started my book, five or six years ago, i was going to include them. But then i thought wow, ok. That really broadens the topic. Because native americans are not immigrants. And now, you are talking about that fine line between race and ethnicity. It depends on who you ask. There are some people who will tell you that Abraham Lincoln was as prejudiced towards indians as any westerner would have been. And participated in the execution of a number of indians in minnesota. On the other hand, if you take the other side, they would say that he reviewed each case individually, reduced the number of those scheduled for execution by two thirds, and consequently saved a number of indians. It is like everything with Abraham Lincoln. It depended on which side of the fence you are on. If you are asking me if i have ever come across anything he said about native americans being part of the American Dream and that they should be given jobs no. Not at all. In that regard, lincoln was a westerner but his short military experience in the black hawk war where he has said on a number of occasions that the only blood that was shed was because he was bitten by mosquitoes, he saved an elderly indian by being shot from one of his fellow soldiers. Because lincoln could not face the fact that he would just be executed because he was an american indian. My personal opinion is that lincoln had a good gyroscope. Deep down inside, i think he had probably much more compassion for his fellow man and woman of all races and ethnicities than virtually anyone in his era. I caution my students, and i think some professional historians as well it is very unfair to evaluate Abraham Lincoln by 2016 standards. If you went up to Abraham Lincoln and said you were a racist, he would not even know what the word meant. If you suffer from evaluating historical character on the basis of what we now know today, you are doing everyone a disservice including your self. I feel pretty comfortable standing with the belief that lincoln was as an enlightened human being that came from the west in the middle of the 19th century. Relating lincolns policies to what seemed to be republican platforms today, with regard to immigration, is it fair to equate them . Mr. Silverman no. I am glad you asked me that and i am glad it is on television so that there would be no mistake what i think about this. I think lincoln would have fits with the Republican Party. I do not think he would recognize it as his Republican Party. I dont think Abraham Lincoln i tell my students on an ongoing basis, because in South Carolina, i come from a red state. And so, whether it is red or blue, republican or democrat, i tell my students with a great deal of sincerity that i hate them all. I have no use with politicians. In that sense, which lincoln wasnt. Lincoln would not be able to relate to a giant wall being built. He would not be able to relate to deportation or the punitive measures taken against any group because of who they are. Lincoln had this extraordinary ability to look at people as individuals and not form these incredibly broad generalizations and act on them. As a westerner, those broad generalizations might filter into his vocabulary. But take his comments about asians, i could not imagine that he would participate in the chinese exclusion law. For people to latch onto Abraham Lincoln today, it sort of saddens me a little bit because they do not understand lincoln and they misuse a great deal of what he said and how he said it. There was a very famous newsweek editorial, i think it was written back when i was an undergraduate in the stone age the title of it was getting right with lincoln. This was during nixon and watergate and the vietnam war. How every president including nixon tried to get right with lincoln. That is what i think people try to do today. But the Republican Party of today, i do not think lincoln would be able to relate to or identify with at all. Lincoln knew some dirty politics. They were not angels back then. The lincolndouglas debates were pretty brutal and lincoln was a politician so he knew how to get beaten up. But were he alive and witnessing some of what is happening in this president ial campaign season, i think he would be i think it would be just appalled. I really do. I do not think he would be able to support anything about exclusion of immigrants because of who they are. Thank you. [applause] mr. Silverman thank you so much. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] youre watching American History tv. All weekend every weekend on cspan3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook. This weekend on the presidency, james rosebush, former Deputy Assistant to president reagan, talks about the 40th president. His personal life and personality. Mr. Rosebush is the author of true reagan. What made Ronald Reagan great, and why it matters