Classy, and a careful scholar and someone who has been the heart of the lincoln forums since its inception. She is now the associate provost of Faculty Affairs at howard university. And this places her in the enviable position of having to say no to everyone. She is the former chair of history at howard. She is the former interim dean and professor of history. Her works focus on africanamerican history and the history of the jacksonian era, the reconstruction. Some of her works include the emancipation proclamation three views which is now coming out in paperback. The price of freedom, slavery and the civil war. Volume one and volume two. As well as the historical perspectives of the african Burial Ground new york blacks and the diaspora. What i have always found about her scholarship is she reminds us of the human toll of the civil war. We often can float into abstractions or perhaps im speaking of myself and the world of ideas and look at history from a detached perspective but she is always there to remind us of the humid toll, the humid cost and bring this conflict to life for us. Please welcome and a green medford. Edna green medford. applause good afternoon. While i. C. E. Destroy the equipment. Help . Thank you. Okay, wonderful. laughs good afternoon i want to thank joe for those very kind remarks and i truly do appreciate it, joe. Id like to thank the forum for inviting me to speak this afternoon and every now and then they let me out of the box. laughs they let me say a few things and it can get a little wild from time to time. One of the worst things that can happen with with a lecture is to sit and hear other people give the lecture she had planned to give. laughs so last night, half of what i had planned to say was put to rest and so actually we can all go home. Since i know that harold would ring my neck ill have to rise to the occasion and Say Something to you. On july 4th, 1861 it measured a resolute precedent to deliver a measure to congress and the address came three months after they fired on the installation of the charleston harbor. It justified lincolns actions and the reason why congress should now take up the mantle to defend the president drove a distinction and motivations of the two regions affirming the union cause while reaffirming his role of this nations government and its uniqueness. Lincoln alluded to the declaration of independence by those states in which a phrase all in are created equal. He pointed to the substitution and the tonsil to shun of the phrase we the people for we the deputies of the independent States Lincoln view this as an effort to deny the rights of jeffersons declaration and objection of the peoples authority as mentioned in the preamble to the constitution of the United States. This is essentially a peoples contest he told the lawmakers and on the side of the union it is a struggle for maintaining that form in substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition to lift artificial waits for him all shoulders and to clear the path of pursuit for all and to afford all unfair start and fair chance in the grace of life and this is the leading object in the exit existence we contend. No single statement defines lincolns philosophy government more directly than this message on the day of independence, a Day Associated with rhetorically of liberty and justice and equality and the guiding principle in the core of his beliefs and he believes that the declaration of independence is one of americas foundational documents and framed on National Character and gave us the exception is and that we continue to claim for ourselves today. But the America Lincoln envisioned, was more aspirational than that. When he took office in march 1861, two different americas existed. One in the north, and the other in the south. And either of which was particularly interested in Liberty Justice and equality for all. Lincoln despaired of those who would claim the declarations promised for himself but tonight to others. On the question of liberty as principal he wrote in 1835 we are not what we have been when we were the political slaves of king george and wanted to be free we called the maxim that all men are created equal, a self evident truth but now that we have lost all dread im being slaves ourselves we have become so greedy to be masters, that we have a self evident ally. Despite a series of reform, four to remedy social ills, the north faced serious challenges. Expanding commercialism and then influx of immigrants overwhelmed urban centers and fed the growing inequality of wealth. Ethnic and religious diversity in the form of roman cathal system and irish, was neither celebrated nor accepted. Led to outright discrimination against African Americans. And who are now considered, a direct economic threat because of competition gender based inequities also compromised the motion of liberty for all in the north middle class women were constrained which suggested their proper place was in the home the womens right Conference Held in cynical falls new york in 1848 gave the dot the dollars of democracy gave them an opportunity to air their grievances in a formal setting. The two Day Conference attracted 300 attendees including male supporters of the cause declaration of sentiments catalog the injustices of wrongs done to women by men. Employment opportunities, and a fair wage for those jobs that were going to them and of course they were denied they said access to a thorough education working class women share these disabilities and more. Forced necessity to work outside the household, they often faced 14 hour workdays the dangers a factory labor, and an equal pay in the south they left the region to like behind the north in industrialization industrialization. The institution elevated every white institution, about every man woman and child and slavery. They shaped and left an indelible mark of character of the south. Well immigrants hastened to the north slavery gripped on the southern port of the country it was not by happenstance that the son of the midwest would come to stand at the center of the controversy over slaverys extension lincoln understood that slavery blocked the path to a fair chance for roughly one eight of the population if they were going to advance them selves the institution would have to be destroyed slavery also hindered. The institution negatively impacted white men as well although only one fourth of the families held slave laborers, the planter class politics and their social and economic standing, disadvantage the common white man. Moreover slave laborers completed competed for the poor worker. Making a harder to earn a living. Those struggling, non slave holders who sought a better life for themselves, beyond the influence of the wealthy farmers, needed a sanctuary elsewhere lincoln recognized the territory offered a solution that the poor white men faced. If slavery shall be planted within their, slave states are places for poor white people to be removed from. Not to be removed to. New free states of the places for poor people to go to and better their condition. For this use the nation needs these territories. By the time of lincolns presidency the western parts of the country especially the old Northwest Territories which one time included Illinois Indiana Ohio and wisconsin, when congress organize the territory if enslaver but the institution survived in certain instances and a loophole in illinois law law allowed slaves to have property to the state unless they kept in their felicity year and you recall the case about that the case that lincoln represented a slave holder who was trying to retrieve his runaway slaves. They had left because he had kept my belief in the state for two years so he have run afoul of the law and lincoln represented him because he figured that everyone deserve representation. Seven whites representation. Lincolns own family had moved from kentucky to indiana and eventually to illinois with a hope to find sufficient cheap labor, cheap land and no competition from slave labor. As southern whites moved into free territory, their racial prejudices migrated with them. The 1850s, some of the midwestern states including illinois have passed into immigration laws aimed not at the irish were german newcomers to america but against americanborn blacks seeking Economic Opportunities close to them in the east and you get the instance will you have fairly recent immigrants passing laws that discriminate against americanborn people. Its astounding. Those free blacks who defied the law faced fines as much as 50 for the offense. The inability to pay what was considered a significant amount of money at that time subjected them to the auctioning off of their labor. Those who legally resided were denied the rights accorded to the right white counterparts. We cannot testify in court against white residents or serve on juries. Moreover, their taxes pay for the operation of Public Schools that their children were barred from attending. While lincoln had declared his antislavery position early in his career, he did not offer any robust objection to these disabilities placed on black illinois and and i almost feel roger bridges standing up now saying you have a look at everything. I havent seen anything yet to suggest youd be better positioned to know that been made because you have done the studies. During this time, the future president s efforts were placed instead on ensuring slavery did not expand. In his 1854 address in the orient p aurea, he declared that the old Northwest Territory was exactly what jefferson had foreseen and intended. The happy home of teeming millions of free white prosperous people. Unencumbered by the competition of slave labor. As he waited to be sworn in as president in 1851, his political allies kept him informed of the efforts underway to stem secession and bring the already seceded states back into the union. Lincoln let it be known that he would be willing to support certain compromises on the issue of slavery and the district of columbia, the return of fugitive slaves, the Domestic Trade of enslaved persons in his words he cared about little. But he stated emphatically that there would be no compromise on a question of extending slavery on soil owned by the nation. At that time, he was talking about the territory of new mexico, utah, arizona and california. On the territorial question he announced, i am in flexible. And in flexible he remained. Free territories figured prominently in his plans for the eventual destruction of the institution. He believed the framers of the constitution had tolerated slavery out of necessity and had placed the institution on a path of eventual extinction. By excluding it from the territories, it would not be able to expand and hence would die a natural death. Lincoln was willing to wait for however long that death would take. Secession in war made the mind of the institution of immediate concern. Although he was willing and he preferred, a gradual and to slavery, the war had to change his timetable. Americas image on the world stage matter to lincoln as well. He understood the role he played as the model of democratic ideals in a world when liberty and equality were not common principles. Most governments had been based practically on the denial of the equal rights of men he suggested. Hours began by affirming those rights. As he said, he hated slavery because of its monstrous injustice but he found it indefensible because also, it deprives a republican example of its justification in the world and enables the enemies of free insmed institutions plausibility to talk to us as hypocrites. It causes real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity and especially because it forces so many good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the fundamental principle of civil liberty criticizing the declaration of independence. American freedom and equality were meant to be universal. To give hope to the world for all future time. It was most prized than that lincoln was unwilling to give his Political Support to the newly formed american or know nothing party. At a time when antiimmigrant sentiment permeated the partys views reflected a longstanding fear of papal influence and concern over the arrival of a large number of immigrants whose cultural practices irritated the nativeborn. Lincoln understood the ethnic prejudices and intolerance endangered the entire nation. In a letter to a longtime friend, he explained why he could not embrace the party. I am not a know nothing he wrote. How could i be . How could anyone who of course the oppression of negros be in favor of degrading classes of white people . He lamented what he viewed as the parties abandonment of the declaration of independence. Our progress and degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rampant he continued. As a nation, we began by declaring that all men are created equal. We now practically read it as all men are created equal except the negros. When the know nothings get control, it will read all men are created equal except new gross and foreigners and catholics. When it comes to this, i would prefer immigrating to seven country where they make no pretense of loving liberty. To russia for instance where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy. Tangible evidence of lincolns commitment to the common man beyond words can be found in his support for several pieces of legislation during his term in office and i will mention only two hear. In may 1862, Congress Passed the homestead act which allowed americans to claim up to 160 acres of land in exchange for a small fee. Five years in residence and improvement to the property. Remarkably, women, immigrants and africanamericans were eligible although the latter were not included until 1868. Lincoln had thrown his support behind the measure declaring that he thought the wildlands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefiting his condition. Tens of millions of acres of federal lands were eventually distributed and all that much of it fell into the hands of speculators, railroads and other unintended beneficiaries, the law provided an opportunity for Land Ownership for those who might not otherwise have had a chance at economic independence. A second law, passed by congress and signed by lincoln that same year facilitated the building of landgrant colleges. The moral act provided that the states be given title to certain federally owned lands that could be sold and the funds used to build agricultural and technical colleges. Dozens of colleges and universities and i tried to count the number and i still dont know the exact number, i have seen numbers like 69 in some instances or 100 in others. I think there were 60 or 70 that were the response of that first moral act of 1862 and there were additional ones additional laws that were established later on. The second moral act in the 1890s that affected African American institutions and made it possible for some of those schools to be created at that time. Then similar measures in recent times where we have the introduction of tribal colleges and community colleges. These landgrant colleges gave ordinary americans easier access to higher education. And exposed them to opportunities for advancement they may not have had without the presence of these institutions. What it is doing is, it is not so much focusing on the classical education as much as it is teaching them practical kinds of things. How theyre going to be able to survive as farmers and as in the technical and mechanical fields. Despite his own success without the benefit of a formal education, lincoln recognized the disadvantage on unschooled men and women faced. Both laws supported his belief that the legitimate object of government is to do for the people what needs to be done but which they cannot buy individual effort or do so well for themselves. Lincoln also recognized that government is constituted at that time could not solve all problems of inequality and injustice. His vision of america was one right with opportunity for those who are prepared to make the most with what this nation had to offer. It would be able to elevate themselves to the extent of their abilities and industry. With notable exception, black men enslaved are just emerging from slavery were disadvantaged. The fruits of the enslaved man or womans labor enriched the slaveholder and kept the laborer good and impoverished. Even if however he managed to be free, there was no support system that could assist in that transition. Lincoln had no illusions that men accustomed to thinking of themselves as members of a superior race would embrace equality with those who just yesterday had been their property and alleged inferiors. His solution to this dilemma to encourage black men and women to give up their birthright in order that americas promise to be fulfilled for this remained left africanamericans teaming. Having known no other home and recognizing their own contributions to the building of the nation, it was a sacrifice most were unwilling to make. But the end of the war, lincoln conceded that africanamericans would have to be accommodated in this nation shaped by a new birth of freedom. The service of nearly 200, 000 black men in the Union Military force convinced him and other levers lovers of liberty that such devotion deserved americas gratitude. His emerging acceptance of the veterans as the body politic in his last public address may or may not have been the beginning of a broader willingness to include africanamericans in society. For sure, it eliminated any talk of voluntary deportation or colonization outside of the United States. As it mirrored africanamericans own efforts for full citizenship, it encouraged them to press that much harder for their vision of what america could be. In the years and decades that followed emancipation, their actions along with the efforts of nonblack supporters facilitated the repeal of black codes in the midwestern states, challenged jim crow legislation in the south, desegregated the educational system, and operated to stop housing and employment discrimination throughout the nation. The Long Civil Rights Movement beginning during this time and continuing throughout the facts of the great activist of the 1950s and 60s, benefited all americans be