Source than rate my professors. Com. Loved,ell he is well heres a few comments. One wrote that he is an amazing professor in his class he lectures but they are far from boring. You will need to read for the test because he does not cover everything, you also have to attend class because every day is something new. Another one wrote that this but you can easy talk to him and he will tell you to take notes. [laughter] in the student remarks that he always begins with a joke. Most are dirty that funny. I just want to warn you, the audience, you have to be careful when you ask questions because someone wrote that i would kill for this man, literally. Do not at go after him too hard. Was thestudent said he best professor, and said for a 52yearold man he is pretty hot. Please join me in welcoming Jason Silverman. [applause] jason that was 10 years ago. Theve not checked lately rate my professor. Com. Myould have to imagine hotness has deteriorated. All i can say today is out. This is an incredible experience for me. John for thatk , as ang interview historian he certainly would back in time. I want to thank the Abraham Lincoln institute for posting this, it is a dream come true. You i grew up in alexandria which is just across the potomac, washington, dc was always a place where field trips came and went. They always held a very dear spot in my heart. Remiss if i didnt tell you that i have been interested in with Abraham Lincoln since the fourth grade. It is an act of defiance on my part. My fourth grade teacher for parents night decided that we were going to have silent vignettes. You still there and they look at famousybe you did figures, one of the ones they chose was a lincolndouglas debate. I got my hopes up tremendously. She said you cannot be Abraham Lincoln, you are not tall enough. You have to be stephen douglas. Well, it was on that day that i decided i was going to be interested in Abraham Lincoln out of defiance if nothing else. Yard am completing my 33 year at the university where him in rooms about full of pack south carolinians. Please forgive me if i look up at the box and say mr. President i made it. [applause] i have been fortunate enough to have done some work in an area that has really not attracted many people. I would like to share some of that with you today. As i tell my students at the beginning of every class, please seatbelts, and lets go back in time to the era of Abraham Lincoln. May 4, 1865. Oak ridge cemetery, illinois. His son is speaking to the clouds, it is peaceful. In wind blows through the prairie to the west. Is onody in springfield the street and they are silent and mournful. Is sosorrow allencompassing they do not know where to go or what to do. , itlandscape is beautiful has been specially cared for for this occasion. There is a tall distinguished looking academics who spoke with a softness that relates to his evangelical days. He is delivering a funeral sermon, he quoted the deceased with deep conviction. Words that spoke of great work to be done. They conjured up a specter of evil in the land. , about toit i may be it i never will, the probability that we may fail in the struggle from the deter us cause that we believe is just. It shall not deter me. The soul expand and elevate to those dimensions, not wholly on worthy of his almighty architect it is when i contemplate the cause of my country, deserted on all sides, i standing boldly alone hurling defiance at our oppressors. Declaration was of a young Abraham Lincoln who on the day of christmas spoke. The bishop interpreted his words with words that were natural to the nation. This was the margaret who dedicated himself to the great struggle of his life against the slave power. The bishop ordered him accurately, he had honored a long lost speech. He did make one air or. Error. This feature is not about slavery, it was about the banking industry. Nominations should not surprise ,s, for more than four decades he probably talked about economics and labor and used those terms broadly than any other issue including slavery. The bulk of his discussions were and economic focus and they proceeded this, they went unrecorded. The main line of his thinking was survived. Immigration, lincoln absolutely. Whereed in an era immigration was his controversial as it is today. Between 1840 and 1860, more than a half Million People came from the german states, scandinavian countries and ireland. Many more went back and forth across the border from mexico. From an early age lincoln develop an awareness for different peoples and their cultures while no doubt a product of his time. Begins to let himself be blinded by adversity. He retained an affinity for immigrants, especially the germans, irish, the jews, and scandinavians. Immigrants and their plight were never far from his plans. His travels down the Mississippi River exposed him to the sites world that hea could only dream about. Establishedntly he the sympathy for the rest of his to the foreignme born and the enslaved. It must have been an odd sight boy sailingtall down the river looking wideeyed and in all of everything he saw. He is free of the applications to his father in the farm, a he went down on a flat boat with his stepbrother, cousins and lawyer. Sailing on what might have been ght which wast barrels and logged. Off on an adventure of a lifetime. Young first time in his life, he was traveling far. He could not know it, what he would see would shave his thoughts for the rest of his life. First madetrip, he contact with foreigners in the city of new orleans. As one on the road, he probably did not distinguish the , he did seeoples how the immigrants formed a significant part of the american population. Trips to new orleans for especially important in his development, they formed the longest journeys of his life. His First Experience with a major city, his only visit to the deep south. His sole exposure to the region rampantly slavery and slave trading. The closest the ever came to immersing himself in a foreign culture. Spoke of his trip save for a brief description of preparation. Others did, and interviewing john hanks, the cousin of his biological mother went on his second trip when he departed. Was recorded as saying they landed in new orleans, i can say it is on this trip that he formed this opinion it put a fire in him then and there. I have heard him say that office. His flat boat journeys exposed him for weeks on end of the vastness of american life. No trips whatever match those. They immerse you in the relationship between transportation and Economic Development in the west. That a bettertood Transportation System would improve the Economic Life of illinois, raise Living Standards for everybody and raise property values. His rubber journeys river also show that the state could accelerate wealth ands for to spread throughout the state. Seeing america firsthand from a lincoln theansfixed core economic principles such as free labor, transportation monetization internal improvements and most assuredly the need to attract immigration. His trips to new orleans represented his journey to the the places where africanamericans abounded but also dominated overwhelmingly. New orleans was the largest city he had ever seen. It would remain so until he stepped onto the National Scene as a newly elected congressman in 1848. More importantly, he represented the most ethnically diverse and foreign city in the states. While lincoln would take a day trip to niagara falls, new orleans would represent the closest he went to another country. Falls, say, on, niagara that is not like leaving the country. With the different religions he ,xperienced in his early life these early trips made him and golf in the different cultures of the south. It gave him Something Like no other experience in his life. With this social and economic political landscape, there was a Young Lincoln in 1828. Evidence of ethnic tension had been obvious to any visitor. In the street or in conversation. Sawpapers that i am sure he that decried immigrants. Editors promised that their views would be purely american. And obvious nod to the parties that would try to exploit this in 1850. He would see firsthand the the immigrants would have for being foreignborn. Present whenent many people were not considered native born. The creel people became treated harshly. Impression that lasted an entire life in him. See therleans he would largest concentration of free people of color. Among them some of the wealthiest and most well people of african ancestry ever. Onnever specifically, did the citys diversity, he came edited thehe hand section of that in 1860. After marveling at the many creelplanters of louisiana, it is a cosmopolitan where they have the polished old world exile of france. Withund himself enthralled all of the culture he witnessed in new orleans. Later on in his life he would remember what he saw as a youth and he would fiercely oppose the Nativist Movement as well as the know nothing party. New orleans would even follow lincoln to springfield. Orville found new orleans to be a hostile place for people of color in the 1820s. Fearing kidnapping and enslavement he fled to st. Louis and then found his way up to the illinois river. Well approaching the village of new salem he overtook a tall man wearing a flannel shirt and carrying an ax. They fell into conversation and walked to a Grocery Store together. The tall man was lincoln, he soon learned that the stranger was a barber and out of money. Lincoln was taken to his boardinghouse and told the people there of his is this an situation. That opened the way for him to have an evenings work on the borders. Lincoln convinced him to settle in springfield, get married, raise a family and prosper as a barber. It was orville who groomed him , justs attorney days before his final departure from springfield to become president of United States. Likely heears it is enjoyed many conversations on east adams street, about new orleans, immigrants, slavery on the Mississippi River. This bilingual man became his friend. Substance of be a genuine friendship because in 1863 there was a letter of gratitude written to lincoln for the emancipation proclamation. Improper it may not be for want to address the president of the United States he wrote, i do so saying if it is received by you it will be read with pleasure and communication from your dear friend. First likelihood lincoln learned about haiti in 1831. Three decades later president Abraham Lincoln would officially established diplomatic relations with the independent caribbean nations of haiti. There had to be some influence there. Ironically it was through lincolns connection to new orleans and the efforts of several immigrants that the great a massive later freed one of his first people of color. Black andy a free while traveling in new orleans found the same hostility towards him that orville had found years earlier. Not having the payment to travel easily, he was arrested and imprisoned. Contact with the attorney benjamin jonas, he was contact athat he prominent lawyer back home in illinois whose influence may help the case and arrange for his release. Jonas recognized the name because lincoln was a very good friend of his father. He was one of the first jewish settlers and the springfield region. He wrote up river to lincoln and his mother. Movedncoln was very much according to his early biographers and requested that he go to the statehouse and inquire if there was not something that could be done to obtain possession of the manfred they returned with the report that the governor as you say he had no constitutional right to act. Excitement,h good by almighty i will have that or i will write until you do have a right to have me on the premises. Lincoln racked lack any further records. They drafted 60 and . 30 at the metropolitan bank, in 1857 they s to benjamin jonass office in new orleans. Releasedjune he was who returned safely to springfield. Amonghelby then became the first freed by Abraham Lincoln. Have resulteduld in his forced enslavement and if he wasforced labor not released. Instead he wanted to take action for everyone not just shelby. He says lincoln is one of my most valuable friends, their friendship dated back to the 1830s. Lincoln never forgot nor did he ever minimize the role of thoseal development that experiences as a flat Boat Operator play. While on the campaign trail he cast his flat boat travels as a dues paying experience, assuring his political supporters that statureence of a rising make him no less or note less tolerant of the other people. Me as a ago he knew strange and uneducated boy working on a flat boat, at 10 a as a i was put down candidate with this distinction. Yes, sure. Lincoln return to the same theme. Free society is such that a poor man knows his condition. He knows there is no fixed condition. Ashamed to have this laborer working on a flat boat. Just what may happen to any man. Personal and a littleknown episode of his life, he became friends with a reverend. A professor at Illinois University lutheran school. Son attendedest class with the reverend. He would frequently call on him to discuss studies because at the time robert was not an enthusiastic student. I bring this up to my students on a number of occasions to tell them that all you need is a little enthusiasm to be that much of a better student. Like you of look at me are full of it. Lincoln even served on the border of the directors of the school. He had experience as member of the city council. Ofwas an outspoken opponent slavery. Beliefs,ed political as he became a loyal and consistent supporter of lincoln on the press and on the stump. One of the first soldiers involved in the battles of the civil war. Lincolns philosophy was far more complicated than me with that which related to the free labor economy. He was a price of his time an environment, despite whatever constituents are represented, irish, dutch it is monolithic. Lincoln on the other hand are seated to see every group is distinctive in its own right. Because he saw the diversity of these groups rather than just assigning them as four underscore savages, his groupsnship with these was as inconsistent as the man himself. Had anst westerners he opinion of latin america, it was never flattering. In his debate with stephen the conceptttacked of popular sovereignty, the notion that the people should decide the slavery issue for themselves. Lincoln asked the hypothetical question that to apply the doctrine of a place like mexico were the inhabitants were not white. When we get to mexico i do not know whether the judge will be in favor of mexican people because we know the judge has a great horror of mongrels. I know that the mexican people are a race of mongrels. Is notstand that there one person there that is not your white, i would assume from the judges previous declaration that would make it to mexico that he will be in favor of these mongrels is out of the question which would bring him somewhat into collusion and collision with his inferior race. Is made forwance these comments by lincoln happened in an intense debate where they had serious race debating, he still used derogatory comments about hispanics where there was no apparent motive. In describing the cubans he pulled no punches. He said their butchery seem to unnecessary, they were fighting against one of the worst governments of the world. Their problem was that the real people had not asked for assistance they were neither desirous of or looking for similar liberty. ,e liked to make references extolling the innovation and brilliance of what he called the theg america as opposed to old countries. Get the less i like him using that phrase. My wife of 31 years makes reference to that many times, every time she says that, i think i have become an old man. I wish he had become a different phrase. He concluded with a habit of , people almost instantly discovered california which have been trotted on an overlooked by mexicans and indians for centuries. It was in that same speech that he made on his few remarks about the people of asia, the nonwhite group he had the least acquaintance with. One who had never been to asia or arguably for that matter barely got out of United States, he claimed that the intellectual curiosity and scientific progress was the exclusive domain of the western world. As havingzed asia human beings, but he said it was an ancient crumbling civilization whose time is long past. Originated in asia, they have worked their way principally westward. Behindow the people are and utterly behind the people of europe. While we here in america think we discovered an invented faster than anyone. Recognizing that perhaps he was on thin ice he concluded, he may think this is arrogant. They do not deny that russia has access to show hurt steamboats and railroads well in other parts of the asian area they barely know those exist. In these ancient inhabited countries, there is a real notion ofold smothering the intellect of man. Well neither respecting or appreciating the countries of latin america, wink and like any nationalist understood his audience by extolling the virtue of the United States. At the expense of degrading other people it was lincolns intention to convince his americans that they would be on the next great stage of history. Strategy tossful flatter voters during his assented to politics. Did put to his credit his money where his mouth was. Agoas not discovered long that during his first term in the house of representatives, he joined Many Americans and contributing 10 which is 500 of todays money to the irish find of the great famine. Hisaps this is because First Teacher had been of irish descent. Ofwas described as a man excellent character, deep piety and a fair education. He had been reared catholic but made no attempts to proselytize. Whether this irishman left a lasting impact, he was always interested in the culture. He knew and recited speeches from robert emmet, especially the closing first where my country shall take its place amongst the earth, then i am done. Valid was therite lament of the irish immigrant se