mr. president, my name is bob willard. i ve been president of the abraham lincoln institute in the past. i m delighted to be at this, the 17th symposium of the abraham lincoln institute. i ve attended almost every one. but it s a little more challenging now after living in and around washington, my wife and i are now happily e sconced in california. as america said good-bye to first lady nancy reagan, two yule gists, secretary jam baker and her son ron jr. both claimed that without mrs. reagan there would have been no president reagan. i m not a fan of the counter fak churl history discussions but i realize that for as long as i remember, i expressed that same view regarding mary lincoln. and it was underscored this morning by sydney blumenthal. i ve heard many presentations on mrs. lincoln from friends and foes of this controversial first lady. love her or hate her, there s little doubt in any mind that abraham and mayry loved each other deeply and supported each other for b
about the ways in which experience transforms attitudes. so lincoln grew but so did so many other americans. in my last book i wrote about a lot of soldiers. and one of the important elements of the emancipation proclamation can is when the army becomes an army of liberation, it changes their mind. the enslaved are an abstraction for the vast majority of northerners. so what does it mean when you re marching south and you re able to humanize african americans. the soldiers that medford talked about, very important, 179,000 men serving. so in all of these ways it s not just lincoln. it s parts of a society that s trying to move ahead to solve what for them is let s pose it has a problem. the problem of freedom in the age of slavery. that s a complicated problem. and on one hand vast strides are made. on the other hand 150 years later it s a problem that the nation continues to have to address. i think for lincoln it s that basic sense of allowing individuals to rise or fall
james baker and her sun both claimed that without his reagan, there would be no president reagan without mrs. reagan, there would be no president reagan. as ilize that for as long can remember, i have expressed that same view regarding mary lincoln. it was underscored this morning by sidney blumenthal. i have attended lots of events like this. and i have heard many presentations on mrs. lincoln from fans from friends and foes. love her or hate her, there is little doubt in my mind that abraham lincoln that abraham and mary love each other deeply and supported each other for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and in health. was anry s support indispensable element of abraham s ambition. our next speaker knows more about this relationship than just about anybody. it stacy mcdermid is the author of mary lincoln: southern girl, nor the moment. this compact volume traces the complex and often tragic life of mary lincoln and for dose stages of mary lincoln and fo
i use experience you know, i have no idea whatsoever. and pozner suggested, i think i picked that up go and do empirical research. why doesn t the government do it? commissions tried to do it. doesn t know where to begin. there are so many statutes. i think, justice breyer the very difficulty and unmanageability of the enterprise suggests it is not what congress had in mind. what congress had in mind was identifying classes of offenses that judges are confident involve serious potential risks of physical injury to another possibly the similarity in kind inquiry when the mens rea isn t satisfied. what congress expected courts to do was to analyze what the conduct is that is involved in it, compare it to the listed offenses and see if the risks are similar. does the department of justice does the department of justice do any of that? is one that the prosecutor asks for, and is there any guidance coming from the department of justice, guidance to the u.s. attorneys, who
over 37 years, which is unusual for capitals but they started in 1866 after the civil war was over. we became a state in 1861. that makes us when hundred 50 four years old. they were not able to start on the building because of the civil war. they built it in sections. we are laid out like the u.s. capitol. they started with the east wing with the senate chamber. they did the south wing, the former supreme court room. the north wing has the state library. finally, the dome. that did take every seven years at a cost of $3.2 million. it was quite a bit of money but they did spread it out over the 37 years and we are one of the few capitals were all of the money was raised before they built. no debt associated with building the capital itself. when kansas was about to enter the union, there were equal numbers of free and slave states. kansas would break the tie. i believe that is where the state motto comes from. it stands for to the stars through difficulties in her. no matte