Ashland. Henry clays home in lexington, kentucky, and for the next 90 minutes we will explore the life and legacy of this man, unsuccessful in his long quest for the white house, yet having an outsized influence on American History. And we are in henry clays parlor r parlor right now. Let me introduce you to jim plotter, historian. Thank you for being with us. Good to be here. Why is he relevant to americans living in our time . On a couple of accounts, his famous quote, i would rather be right than be president. Its a call to people whatever were doing, which is to do the right thing. In a sense, politicians need to remember the country and sacrifice for the country and i think that is still something that we need to remember, as well and the man known as the great compromiser, and a man that forges these compromises that not only kept the nation together, but were constructive and those are the kinds of things we need to remember about henry clay as well as the things that he did in
Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Also a member of the wig Political Party and todd and clay shared some political ideas especially in regard to slavery. Both clay and todd supported the American Colonization Society which was a movement to resettle freed blacks back to liberia. So this represents yet another view on slavery that mary lincoln was exposed to as a chi child. This is the gentlemans parlor of the house and its a section of the house that would have been offlimits to the women, but according to one of Mary Todd Lincolns cousins, mary would like to sit in on the political conversations when her father was entertaining the prominent men of the day. Mary lincoln might have taken an interest in politics to help garner attention from her father who was very active in state and local politics. And our next caller is from lexington, kentucky. John is on the line. John, your question or comment. Hello, thank you for taking my call. I certainly appreciate the empathetic and
Born in 1818 in lexington, kentucky, mary todd grew up in a slaveholding family yet lived to her see her husband Abraham Lincoln issue the emancipation proclamation. A mother of four sons he witnessed the death of three of the four as well as her own husbands assassination. Though her life was filled with tranlgly, as lincolns political partner, she also rely i should in their success. As we focus on the civil war years, one of the defining moments in our countrys history, a look at the life and times of Mary Todd Lincoln, one of the most complex first ladies ever to live in the white house. Thanks for being with us for cspan continuing series on first ladies influence and image. Tonight as we look at Mary Todd Lincoln, we invite two of our academic advisers for the whole series to be our guests for this program. Let me introduce you to rosalynn toreberg penn. And Richard Norton smith, our guest and at our table is the director of five president ial libraries including the Abraham Linc
By the Gettysburg College civil war institute. Big thank you mr. Carmichael. I am also of says i am a director of the civil war institute. It is my pleasure this afternoon to introduce Elizabeth Van lew who is the associate director for civil war history. Awesome williams professor of American History at the university of virginia. Thankfully, she is not a hockey buff. At least i do not believe she is. Oh gosh, she said go caps. What has happened to American Sports . I do not know. I never thought in a civil war conference people would be dying about hockey, but such is life. Elizabeth is a published scholar. We need to be counted, white women. Published by the university of the North Carolina press 1998. This union which is one of my favorite overviews of the political crisis of the 18 fifties. It is quite good. Published by the university of North Carolina press. Victory, defeat, and freedom at the end of the civil war, published by oxford. It is an outstanding book. It is a way to l
War history. All at the university of virginia. Thankfully, shes not a hockey buff. I dont believe she is. She said, go caps. What has happened to the American Sports scene . I dont know. I never thought in a civil war conference people would be jawing about hockey. Such is life. A very accomplished scholar. Shes published a number of books, including we mean to be counted, white women and the politics in antebellum virginia. This union, one of my favorite overviews of the 1850s. Published by university of North Carolina press. Victory, defeat and freedom at the end of the civil war, published by oxford. Its an outstanding book. Its a way to look beyond the surrender proceedings and material culture, visual culture. How it resided in american memory. Its outstanding. I cant say enough good things about it. Today, subject of her talk, she published true story of Elizabeth Van lew, a union agent in the heart of the confederacy. [ applause ] i bring you greetings from virginia and im deli