Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV At National Parks 20160821

Original ceremony was held on may 10, 1869. Included on this ties a list of the dignitaries from that company, including leland stanford, and the big four are all marked there. Another thing you can see on this site is a connection with the resources that would have the twoilable to companies building the railroad. We have mocked up everything to make it as authentic as possible. If you look on the west side, you will see the cut ties. The Central Pacific had they cut all of their ties and brought them down from the mountain. The Union Pacific from the east had to hand cut their ties wherever they could find wood. Not a lot available in the area so they would split them and you can see them mocked up, how they would cut them and bring them out when they could. The Transcontinental Railroad was happening at the end of the victorian age as you are going into the industrial age. It was a perfect time for the United States. When that Transcontinental Railroad was complete, it made a major impact in the Industrial Development of this nation. It was over 6. 5 years. From 18621869. They started building the Transcontinental Railroad went a lot of people were coming out after the gold rush and the silver rush was taking off. We were in the middle of the civil war. Abraham lincoln really wanted to have access to all the materials in the sierra nevadas, including the gold and silver and connect the states in the United States. He chose that time to complete the act and Start Building the railroad. In the middle of the war, the defense of the country was a major factor that was making the decision and they wanted to get troops across the country in a quicker span of time. There were finished goods that would go to states in the west. 46 month around niall horan. Four to six months around the horn. It was hopefully going to be cut and that was lincolns school. He wanted to get troops across the country. And it ended up being 710 days. The companies that built the Transcontinental Railroad where the Central Pacific, starting in sacramento, and the Union Pacific, starting in omaha. There were already extensive rail systems in the east. One of the problems the whole ies were the Company Building before they got paid and almost always in debt and worried about money. The other problem was resources. A huge problem with resources. If you have ever traveled around wyoming and nebraska, there is not a lot of wood. Wood and ties had to be on. You had towers for the infrastructures operating across the country. Because of the civil war they were in, finding manpower was hard. At the end of the civil war, it was a huge help for the railroad company. You had veterans looking for a way to provide for their livelihood and there was a ready employer in the railroad company. For the Central Pacific, this is a bigger concern. A lot of times early on, a lot of workers would come on long enough to get money to mine. That is why the chinese were brought on, as in experiment. They brought in 50 Chinese Workers to test them out. There was a lot of doubt because of their stature. They did not think they could withstand the 12 hour days six days a week. There was a lot of criticism and racism against the chinese. They overcame the doubt and did a fantastic job. Over 11,000 chinese were employed by the end of the Transcontinental Railroad. As the companies approached each other, they were being paid land grants and did not want to give up ground. Instead of coming together and giving up, they continued to build past one another until the federal government said that they were not going to pay them anymore until they figured out where they were going to meet. That is when they selected this spot and they had 30 miles of track to finish in the last month. You are looking down over some of the wetlands of the Great Salt Lake and major factors influence the routes. One involved a fresh waters to refill the tanks on the steam locomotives and they needed to stay under a two percent grade, 100 feet every mile. One of the challenges they faced was a large saltwater lake. They had to find a path around it. They were thinking about going through the wetlands. The engineer brought up a rise in lake level. They decide to go north of the lake, even though it presents more challenges with the grade. You can see, from the side, that if you look down below us, you can see the grade. I mentioned the companies building across the country and passed each other through utah with grade work because they did not want to give up federal money. Down here is the old Union Pacific grade. They sold their rights to the Central Pacific company. The Central Pacific had worked her utah a lot longer and had a much Higher Quality grade. They bought the rights from the Union Pacific and switched over to this grade and that is where we are standing. We are coming up to the last cut made by the Union Pacific in the approach to Promontory Summit valley that is right here. In just a minute, we will look down and you can actually see, in order to get through different elevation changes, they would cut through the rock and blast with black powder. The work you are actually seeing, these burns or hills on the far side of the cut is from the 1860s and it is rock that is stacked up and they put rocks to act as a retaining wall to keep it from collapsing into the cut. It is pretty neat. You can see work that lasted 150 years. [bell] as they approach the actual ceremony, they figured out the spot here at Promontory Summit. A lot of people were interested in knowing when they would complete and it had a lot of reporters from all over the country i came out with dignitaries from the two companies. A lot of individuals would connect to the mainline and benefit with their businesses from that. The day that was set for the completion, when the federal government made these Companies Set when and where they would finished was may 8. We hold the anniversary on may 10 because of the delay of the Union Pacific getting out here and they were not able to hold the ceremony until that day. When they held the ceremony, one of the neat stories is a ceremonial spike. They had four. Including two solid gold, a solid silver, and the arizona spike. They could not drive the spike. They would predrill holes. We often get asked where the gold spike was. We do not know which position the gold spike would have held. The dignitaries would place them in and cap them as part of the ceremony. They removed all that. There was a last spike that was driven. It was a regular iron spike that was linked to the telegraph. They put the telegraph wires around the spike in the hammer. When they drove it in, it sent a live broadcast across the nation. And actually started celebrations throughout the nation. During the ceremony, one of the famous pictures that you see is the champagne photo. There were two locomotives on site and they are known as the jupiter and they Union Pacific number 119. They are two of the most famous in american railroading. It is a cool way to commemorate that. After the ceremony, a lot of pictures were taken and the operation of the railroad became huge throughout the country because they were trying to increase the time and efficiency within these companies. The line passing through this area was bypassed and they built a trestle bridge and causeway across the Great Salt Lake. It went straight across the point of the promontory mountain behind us and in. That cuts extra time and travel. Ogden became a huge have for transporting troops and materials and supplies all across the country. It would have trains every hour unloading huge amounts of supplies of people and it became a major city, a major thoroughfare for moving across the country. Announcer president Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park service on august 25, 1916. American history tv is featuring National Park Service Sites across country. We continue now with another stop on the cspan cities tour. A lot of times i ask myself why it is important to have an historic structure. A lot of times, you could read about the history. You read about the history where you are thinking this event happened right where im standing. So that is the value, that you can get the moment of connection between people who are Walking Around today and thinking of their own thoughts and lives and suddenly they can jump back into the past mentally and at least have some sort of a connection with people from the past. Were in st. Louiss old courthouse. It is a building that is no longer used for the courts today. It hasnt been since 1930 but it is an Historic Building that has been preserved to tell a little about st. Louiss history. This courthouse is known for dred scott sued for his freedom. That freedom suit launched in 1846 went to the u. S. Supreme court, which in 1857 decided that they would be held as slaves and continue to be slaves. It was a decision that was very broad. It said that people couldnt be restricted from taking their lives into federal territories any longer so it opened up the western territories to the possibility of slavery. It was one of the main deciding factors in leading the nation on a path toward civil war. There were a lot of other things that happened, the kansas nebraska act. All kinds of things going on at the same time, roughly in the late 1850s. Any one of those, you could say, well, it is one of the place where is the civil war really began, where the roots of the civil war are. Long before the first gun was fired at fort sumpter in South Carolina, theres were many things leading the country on the road to civil war and one of the was the case heard in this building the case of dread and Harriet Scott. It is told on this large level as someone sues and it is a deciding factor of the civil war. The people themselves get lost in the story. Dred scott was a st. Louisian. He came here and lived here. He was born probably in the late 1790s, early 1800s and he was born on a plantation by a family named blow. They moved and they took dred scott with him and tried to make it a go on another plantation and failed there. They moved to st. Louis and bought a hotel and tried to do a different type of work to make their living. They found that they needed ready cash so they sold dred scott after they arrived here in st. Louis in the 1830s. Dred was purchased by a doctor emerson who was a physician working with the u. S. Army. Dr. Emerson was posted in many different places but two of them are the things that resulted in the suit of the scotts later on. One was fort armstrong, which is in the state of illinois, which was not supposed to have slavery because of the northwest ordinance. Another was the territory of wisconsin, today minnesota. So dred scott was taken to these places, held as a slave there, even though slavery was illegal in those places and brought back to st. Louis. While he was at fort snelling, he met a woman named Harriet Robinson who was enslaved to another officer at the fort. Dr. Emerson purchased her and allowed the scotts to marry, legally, which is unusual at the time. Dred and Harriet Scott return to st. Louis, they had two children, both daughters. After a time, dr. Emerson passed away. Mrs. Emerson was asked by the scotts whether they might be able to purchase their freedom from her. It was something, especially in urban slavery that wasnt that unusual. She refused. She was not interested in selling the scott family. So they decided based on the fact that they were still being held as slaves and held in bondage to sue for their freedom. They entered this courthouse in 1846. It one had their own petition. It wasnt just dred, it was dred and harriet. The case came to trial here in this building in 1847. There was hearsay evidence introduced. It was a mistrial. They lost the first trial and they asked for another trial, which the judge granted. They were able to present the evidence successfully and the jury of all white male, 12 white males, probably some of them slave owners decided that dred and Harriet Scott should be free. The verdict that was rendered was to give them their freedom. Mrs. Emerson didnt agree and she appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, which became publicized by 1852 when which became very politicized by 1852 when they rendered their verdict. The slavery issue was heating up all over the nation. So the justices that were on the state Supreme Court, two were slave owners and they believed the trend was to free slaves that were taken to free territory. They thought it was wrong. Slaves were property and to take a persons property away because a person had taken it to a certain area of the country was not affair thing to do under the law. So they changed from the bench, the legislatured up to what the legal system was saying at that time in missouri, they were saying that the scotts would be returned to slavery. A new attorney named roswell fields and he talks to the scotts about a different strategy. He felt they could take their case to the Federal District court here in st. Louis. Mrs. Emerson remared and she transferred ownership of the scotts from herself to her brother. Sanford was a resident of new york state at this time. The scotts were being held in bondage, technically by a man who lives in another state, a free state to boot. So he thought the strategy would be so the scotts could sue sanford for their freedom. They lost but they appealed that case to the u. S. Supreme court and that was the case that was heard by the Supreme Court in 1856 and again in 1857 when they actually rendered their decision. It is interesting that sanford, his name is on the case and he doesnt come into it until 1854 when they go to the federal courts. Sanford is also a key player in where we know the scotts were returned by the Supreme Court but they were set free in this room a couple months later. The way that happened was sanford died in new york state and upon his death the ownership reverted to his sister and to her husband. He was an abolitionist and he was a sitting member of congress at this time. Suddenly, he finds hes the owner of the most famous slaves in the United States just literally overnight. He wanted to divest himself of these slaves as quickly as he could before the press found out. He sold the scott family for a token dollar to taylor blow, one of the sunday of the original family from the plantation where scott was born back in virginia. Taylor blow brought them into this courtroom and set them free in 1857. So the scotts achieved the freedom that they had fought so long to obtain while still provoking this incredibly important Supreme Court decision that led the country to the civil war, which eventually freed all of the slaves. Dred did not live long after the decision was rendered. He died probably of tuberculosis a year after the case was decided. His wife lived until 1856 so she would have seen the civil war and freedom come along. A good share of their lives, the scotts lived here in st. Louis. They died here. They are buried here. In many respects, we can say the scott family was st. Louisians. Their case started here and in many ways ended here, not with the decision in washington but with being set free. To mark the centennial of the National Park service, American History tv is natural and Historic Sites across the country is recorded by cspans cities tour staff. We continue now with our look at the history of the National Parks. I think it ranks right up with Washingtons Mount Vernon or Jeffersons Monticello in terms of impressiveness. It speaks of a man of significant wealth. Jackson is still considered to be one of our wealthiest president s. It is an 8000 square foot house. If you are coming here, you would have been very impressed by ehouse of this magnitude. And rachel bought this property in 1804. Originally, it was about 425 acres in size. Buildings on the property. For the next 41 years of land tos life, he added the property. He bought and sold property all around the edges. Ine of the time he died 1845, the plantation was about a thousand 50 acres. Jackson understood clearly that part of your power derived from the stage you are on. Grandey were building a stage set for him and for the family. The front of the house is very grand. Called greek revival, which was the height of the United States in the 1830s. It was the growing democracy of the country. Greek fauceto the phase. It was shaped like a guitar, very appropriate for national. The front of the mansion, you see a twostory portico that gallery. Ss the 1835 stateoftheart for and just a very imposing house that became the model for many other plantation houses. Nuclearan building the us of this building in 1819. Nuculus of this building in 1819. They moved into the house in 19 in 1821. It was basically the same building as this. But much simpler. Rachel died in 1828. In the years following her death, the house was expanded. Burnedpoint, the house and it was rebuilt into the mansion that we know today. The original plan of the house, themiddle part, is called center hall or Georgian House where there is center hall on both wars and then on both floors and then for rooms on each side of the hallway. And then a stairway in the center hall. You see thed me, curved flying stairway that we have today that was constructed while jackson was here. The intention was, when you walked through the front door, wow. Were supposed to go lou it was supposed to be impressive. The rich moldings, the crystal chandelier, the wallpaper. Today, you go into someones as, people often have things sitting out to tell you about them, their style. This is the same thing. It went through three phases to look the way does today. The original house was finished in 1821. Jackson was elected president. Rachel dies. The sun is grown and married and isnt big enough. So they had to wings to the left of the right to the left and the right. One is a large dining room. The other ends up in jacksons library adjacent to his bedroom. The two wings make it very symmetrical or a ballast facades to the hops the house. The fire took place in 1834. There was a chimney fire. The chimney was not properly cleaned over the summer. Creosote had built up. You would be using fireplaces all the time. This one happened to be in nature me from the kitchen. It was a windy day. At that time, the house had a cedarshaped roof. Cedarchipped roof. So the sparks hit the roof. They called the slaves in from the field. Most ofe able to empty the secondfloor although most of the contents were lost, including rachels letters, which is set for everyone can learn and for us against today because we know relatively little about rachel. But the house was badly, badly damaged, to the point where the family, Andrew Jacksons son and his wife and grandchildren had to move out of the house. So it took almost two years to rebuild the house. But the final result was a far grander, far more impressive some might call it a pretentious house than before. When theythey are lived in a log farmhouse, if you are a dignitary coming to nashville, you would visit and or and rachel jackson. You would come to the hermitage. The hermitage when he was traveling in the United States in 1824 and 1825. Aaron burr came here when he was vice president. Martin van buren, james k. Polk. During the president ial years and in jacksons retirement years, the house was filled with visitors all the time. Comingwere a dignitary to visit andrew jackson, lets say, in 1838, after the presidency, you would have come to the front door because you were an important person. So he would come to the front door and you would have been greeted by a short woman named hannah, who was the head of the house slaves. She kind of ruled the roost. And she would invite you to come in and size you up and decide how important you are. Were already important because you came to the front door. That if you are very important and you didnt know general jackson, you would have been escorted into the front parlor and allowed to wait for him there. And in the front parlor, he would have had laying out whatts that would show you an important man you are about to meet. And jackson would let you wait in the front parlor long enough so you could observe this. You could have a sense that, ok, this is a big deal guy i am about to meet. And he would come in and generally tell you about the battle of new orleans, which was the pivot point in his life, if you will. The story was that he would usually spend longer time talking about the battle than it actually to defy. The dining room was made of hickory wood with the bark still on it. The story is a legend that has come to us from the family, that the mantle was made by a man who had served under jackson at the battle of new orleans. Each year, he worked on the mantle, only on january 8, which is the anniversary of the battle. So for the 25th anniversary, he presented it to jackson. So its been here since 1840. And its moved around the house at different times. We think the dining room is the appropriate place. But it was made of hickory because jacksons nickname was old gray. Old, the two most hickory. To me, the two most important thef the House Library was a political epicenter, if you will, even miles we are 800 or 900 from washington. In his retirement years, jackson never really wanted to give up being president. So from that room, he was continually firing off letters to subsequent president s and two people in congress who supported him to make sure that they were following through on policies or laws that he had pushed through while he was president jacksons popularity was so great that come if you had jackson endorsing you to run for president or for any elected office or to get a bill passed and you had jacksons endorsement, very likely it would pass. So there was a constant flow of people coming here to see him and to get his support. So it was a very busy room. So many of hise personal items in that room that he brought back from washington, things that he was very proud of. His library. He had a library of about 800 volumes. We have over 750 of those volumes still today. One of the things that people love are these large, bound volume sitting on the floor. A are actually bound newspapers that he saved. A politicalof junkie. He subscribed to 16 different newspapers and had a number of them bound. And these large bound fallings on the floor had his marginal notes. Adjacent to that room is his bedroom that is very personal. All the furniture is original. The wallpaper is original. The fabrics are reproductions of what was there on the day he died. So even his bedroom slippers and his dressing gown are there in the room. So it is a very personal space. It is the room he died in on june 8 of 1845. One of the stories that i think samuite interesting is houston was very close to years wastheir last quite like it sent to him. Houston heard that jackson was dying and he wanted his young son to meet jackson. So they traveled from texas here arrivedille and they just a couple of hours after jackson dies. So the visual of this i think is so great because the family is clustered around the bed and sam houston is holding this little boy up over the heads of the family so that he could say he had seen the face of andrew jackson. People visit the hermitage and leave having a better understanding of jackson, who is a complicated man. I think far more complicated than Public Opinion today characterize him as. He was a man of great passion, great determination, could be very fierce at times. Could be very tender and concerned. It really depended upon the situation. So a better understanding of this man who was considered second only really to george washington. Announcer 150 years ago, president Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park service. American history tv is featuring natural and Historic Sites throughout the country visited by our cspan cities tour staff and this is American History tv only on cspan 3. We are standing in the. Indergarten room this was one of the four africanamerican in him entry schools operating in topeka in 1951 when the brown v board of education case was filed in district court. The brown v board of education case is a small piece of a much is started in the late 1920s and early 1930s, which is part of the National Association for the advancement of color peoples, the naacps, struggle to overturn segregation in public education. They were attempting to file cases that would eventually lead to plessy versus ferguson. That was a Supreme Court decision in 1896 that allowed the state of louisiana to segregate railcars by race. Court made ae constitutional, you found an explosion of laws in the south are merely that permitted segregation in all sectors of public life. Attempting toas overturn that precedent. They knew that they could try to do it in one case, but if they lost, that was the end of their attempt. Beginning in the 1930s, they began to file cases to chip away at that precedent. The strategy was initially to and injured to end segregation in law schools and worked at the college and then down to Elementary Schools. Brown v board of education is the first name to appear out of the list of plaintiffs. Here in kansas, the local chapter of the naacp, but the lawyers and local activists recruited her teen parents one of them was oliver brown. Then there were 12 other mothers. All 13 of those pants had children that attended one of before africanamerican Elementary Schools here in topeka. One of them being the munro school where we are at right now. Oliver brown was a friendly lawyer that was the a friend of the layer a friend of the lawyer who is the counsel for the case. They did what they were looking for was a good member of the community and an upstanding member. Brown was one of those 13 volunteers. It is often accidental whose name gets a trip did. Oliver browns name is listed first even though there was another woman whose name wouldve been first off of that equate, a woman named darlene brown. For some reason, oliver browns name is listed first. It is known as brown, but he was simply one of those 13 parents recruited. Nationwide, there were five cases that included over 200 plaintiffs total. They were referred to as the brown family although they were one piece of a much larger story. They kindergarten room tells a much larger stories and that the facilities at the munro school were excellent. When people walk into the building, if they remember going to kindergarten and a school like this, it looks like one that they attended whether they are white or black. The facilities were really excellent. They kindergarten room serves to remind people that education is about being a safe place where you can learn from people who are sympathetic to an understanding. That was exactly what was happening here in the munro Elementary School which was an excellent educational expansion when they go out to see the exhibits and photographs of what schools were like an South Carolina and virginia and the district of columbia and they see what africanamerican communities indoor, and toward endured, they could see how difficult it was for africanamericans to receive a good education and their communities. In some pico, you would be very hard pressed to determine whether white students are africanamerican students attended because the school board really did provide all of the same materials that the white schools offered. What is even more interesting for most people when they come to visit is that they find out after graduating from Elementary School, africanamerican students attended integrated middle and high schools because the law in kansas only permitted segregation in Elementary Schools with cities of more than 15,000 people. You had separate schools and topeka in topeka and a dozen other communities in the 1950s. But no other communities in kansas could segregate their schools. While there were no supporters of segregation and obviously saw the injustice of attending separate Elementary Schools, the Africanamerican Community also was very proud of their schools because these were excellent facilities. The teachers who were teaching in the classrooms like the one that we are standing and right now all had bachelors degrees if not masters degrees. These were some of the only professional jobs for africanamerican women in the city of topeka. That was going to be lost when schools were integrated. While there was support for the idea of integration, there was also some resistance especially from the teachers and the local chapter of the naacp, who fear the loss of these institutions and the loss of those jobs and those were not unwarranted. When the middle schools integrated a few years before, there were africanamerican teachers who had lost their jobs. The feeling there was very much attention between what was going to be gained, which was full access to neighborhood schools are these africanamerican children lived in the was also a sense of loss for what was going to happen to these teachers and institutions. The museum was very much designed to tell the broader story of the struggle for civil rights in American History and the roots of that go back to the origins of slavery in the United States. So when you enter the building, you will be greeted by a park ranger. The focal point or beginning point of the exhibit is a 25 minute series of films which is set up as a dialogue between a young woman and an older man, which basically traces the struggle from the origins of slavery and replaced it with an institution that was every bit as unjust which were segregation laws. Then visitors can move into the first gallery of exhibits which looks at the importance of education in the Africanamerican Community. And that leads up to the decision to use education as the legal issue whereby the naacp would end all segregation. That was the wedge issue to integrate educational facilities and all the other dominoes of segregated institutions would fall. Those did not fall easily. One of the most powerful portions of the exhibit is news footage gathered from various locations around the country which were in opposition to the brown decision and to integrate schools. That took place all over the nation, including northern states like massachusetts where there were riots and protests of busing policies to create integrated schools. While there were never major protests or disruptions here in topeka and in kansas, theyre very much was on a national level. Those were extremely violent and extremely bloody and extremely costly to United States. To imagine what it must be like to be a 16yearold boy or girl and be confronted by mob is what the hall encourages attending to recreate. It is one of the most visceral what the hall of courage is attempting to recreate. It is one of the most visceral and powerful parts of the exhibit here. One of the things that we are here to do is help engage in dialogue about these kinds of issues because they are ongoing and continuous in our society. There are new court cases and new groups that are constantly struggling for better access and equal access to civil rights. The mission of the National Park service is to preserve our countrys heritage. We dont go and build museums about subjects that are important. We preserve places that were an integral part of that story because we believe that by preserving those pieces of our heritage, even if they are difficult stories to tell what segregation and integration or japanese internment camps, that whether they are from the u. S. Or abroad or whether they are caucasian or africanamerican, you better understand the story when you are standing in the place where these events actually happened. There is something intangible in these places that you can actually feel the history resonating by being in these places that were an important part of our history. Announcer this thursday, American History tv will mark of the National Park service and tenniel with a special Program Starting at 7 p. M. Eastern time. Today, we are featuring National Park Service Sites visited by the cspan cspan cities tour. We continue with a look at the history of the National Parks. Jim david the Ocmulgee National monument was authorized back in 1934 basically to preserve these prehistoric mounds. Thats all they thought was here when the park was first authorized. Back in the 1930s before the park was even established, while the locals were still working with the legislature trying to get this park authorized and established, the locals also realized that this might be an ideal location for a new deal works project, and so once again, working with the legislature, they managed to get this designated as a wpa work site, and working at the smithsonian, they actually sat down two smithsonian archaeologists, and those two men ended up overseeing a work force 800 men. So pretty difficult for two archaeologists to oversee that large of a work force, but they basically ran trenches at various locations on this site, did some trenches on top of the great temple mound, the left temple mound, and they found here that huge continuum. We ended up with over 2. 5 million items that this dig found in this location. We discovered it had a time period that goes back to the ice age hunters, and this spot was then used ever since that first arrival of humans here in the southeast. Its a National Monument referred to locally as the indian mounds, but the park is so much more than mounds. It is once again the whole prehistory of the southeast. The mounds were built by a group that archaeologists called mississippian people. Mississippian culture is a very widespread culture. A hub is near st. Louis, but a place called cahocia, and that philosophy, that mound building legend or whoever was, it spread throughout the eastern half of the United States. Ucmulgee is considered the hub of the mississippi and culture here in the southeast. Kind of like, i guess, maybe a subcapital through the main capital there at cahocia. The society, the mississippians existed on this site for over 300 years. Now, after that period of time, some reason, they left this site. We have no idea why, what happened, if it was, you know, a change in climate, a change in, you know, religious beliefs, or, you know, or what. Maybe it might have been warfare, who knows . But this site was abandoned, and then about 100 years later, the park service has a site just about a mile and a half south of here, along the Ocmulgee River called lamar. A little different culture, still a moundbuilding culture. The lamar culture then is the one who desoto came in contact with in 1540. And then, unfortunately, with the rival desoto, that greatly affected the prehistoric peoples. Some archaeologists i heard talk as much as 70 , 80 loss of life. After that great loss of life, that according to the muskogee is the remnants of the various groups touched by desoto came together here at ocmulgee and set down together and created a new confederacy of tribes, and theyre going to call themselves muskogee, and thats now who later on the europeans called the creeks. And so, now they call themselves the muskogeecreek people. So this area once again not only has the huge prehistoric history, but sacred to the tribes and has a very long historical period, also. This site has seven mounds on it, but the one in back of me we refer to as the great temple mound. Its the largest mound we have. Its 55 feet high on the front side. That is where we believe the chief of the society, the tribe, lived. Archaeologists did find evidence, three structures up on top of there. And thats where we believe there was a ramp that went up the front of it, and we believe that the chief basically ran the society from on top of there. And then, just down from that, youll see a smaller mound. Thats called the lesser temple mound. There was a structure up on top of that, also. And unfortunately, were not really sure how big that mound was. The railroad in 1830s came through and took off the entire side of that mound. Now, heightwise, it may be close to the original height. But as far as width, we have no idea, because the railroad took off a whole side of it, and, of course, they didnt care to photograph it or mention it, so we have no idea how much they removed. Also up here, just a way from the great temple mound, another one of our famous mounds is we refer to as the funeral mound. The funeral mound is here. It was places for burial, but only apparently of the highranking people. The number of burials found in the funeral mound definitely would not account for all the deaths in this size of a society. So it was very evidenced, also some of the artifacts found with the burials, that the funeral mound was reserved for certain highranking individuals. Where the other people were buried, were not really sure. Were always very careful about any ground disturbing we do here here. I work with the tribes on that, because we never know when there might be a chance that we might while digging a post hole for a sign might hit a burial. So were very conscious of that, because somewhere around here there probably are literally thousands of burials. We are standing on the top of what we call the great temple mound. We believe this is where the chief lived, there were three structures in evidence up here, and were guessing a limited only certain folks were allowed to come up on top of this mound for, you know, meetings with the chief, or various religious meetings or activities. So not everybody was probably allowed to come up here. So this society probably covered 20 or more miles up and down the river. So they would have controlled a very large area. The main reason we feel this area has been used for the millenia that it has been is because it is right its evidence of two ecological areas combined. The endge was called the fall line, which is the area between the coastal plain and the piedmont plateau. This mound is literally on the edge of the fall line. The piedmont plateau drops off at the base of the mound, and from here on out becomes the coastal plain. With these two meeting areas, you have both the plants and the animals from that those ecosystems, all both here. You had a Great Variety of animals to choose from, plants to eat from, and, of course, the river was right there with all of its foodstuffs and transportation. So you really had the ideal place for these people to be over all these thousands of years, because of that meeting of the two ecosystems right in in location. We are inside our earth lodge, and were looking at the original 1,000yearold earth lodge floor. This is a very interesting structure. There will 50 seats in this room. From the entrance at the door, it comes around in the circle, each seat is slightly higher and wider than the preceding seat. And 47 seats come up, and then on this birdshaped effigy are the three main seats. The measurements they used to build this are extremely accurate. It is within an inch a few inches of being a perfect circle. Its the four pillars that held up the ceiling are also within a few inches of being a perfect square. The fire pit is directly in the direct center of the structure, so they indeed did have ways of making some very, very accurate measurements in building these structures. The only archaeological items that were found was a conk shell which we assume was used for scooping, and a pot. So what else initially may have been in here, who knows . It ended up being burned. We have no idea if it was a ceremonial cleansing or a closing or if indeed it may have been an accident, a fire got away. But ended up fire was in here. The ceiling and everything collapsed. And then that ended up preserving the floor. I guess the roof and the soil and so forth came down and preserved the site as we see it. We think its very important to interpret this tour for visitors so that they cannot only understand this great prehistory and that, indeed, well before, you know decades, millenia, before columbus and the europeans, they had well established, very successful societies here on north american continent. So it was not an empty place. Its important to show people that these were very organized societies of artists, craftspeople, leaders, organized societies. And then, we want to show once again effect of the arrival of europeans and establishment of the country on these people, and to show, yeah, they were not all wiped out. The creeks, you know, out in oklahoma are still very vibrant, have a Great Society out there. Very well organized government. You know, with a great story to tell of their culture and their history. Its important for people to understand that part of the United States history and also understanding that part of native american culture. Announcer president Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park service on august 25, 1916. To mark the centennial, American History tv is featuring National Park Service Sites throughout the country. We continue now with another stop on the cspan cities tour. Charles pinckney, sometimes known as a forgotten founder, was the philadelphia delegate to the constitution. He was four times a governor South Carolina. He was ambassador to spain. He was in the legislature in South Carolina. He was in congress in washington. He spent his entire life in public service. But they key, the National Significance of charles were his contributions at the Constitutional Convention. He presented a complete plan of government. It is called the ink draft, which you have to get through kind of a backwards the which you have to get through kind of a backwards way. He presented a plan of government on the third day of the convention. Peoples notes at the Constitutional Convention that you find the details of that plan. What is interesting is that james madison, who we think of as a father of the constitution, hehad copious notes doesnt mention the pinckney draft, which is one of the reasons that pinckney is a forgotten founder. He was a brash young man from South Carolina. Very bright, but only 29 years. Ld in presenting his ideas and not being afraid of doing that, maybe respecting his elders anyway, he obviously rubbed some people the wrong way. His draft included a lot of the arguets and you can whether they were 20 or 40 but there are a lot of elements in the constitution included in that draft. The one we really pull on is no religious qualifications for holding office, that was major. A chief executive and three branches of government, which we do have. He called for a post office. He called for the president to make a report to the Congress Every year, a state of the union report. We are standing where Charles Pinckney was born. When charles inherited this property following the American Revolution it was again used as a retreat. Houseon archaeology the was right where we are standing today. He must undoubtedly have torn down the old house, perhaps used some of the pieces of the old house and reconstructed this. The nails are from the 1820s. It was called the Charles Pinckney house, when in fact this house is not from the 1750s. This site is archaeologybased. There are no standing structures left from pinckneys time. There have been extensive archaeological investigations done. They raised the money to buy it and turn it over to the park service and initiated these studies to find evidence of the pinckney time. One of the biggest one of the biggest fines was the foundation of the pinckney house right under the standing structure. Right here we have folks working underneath the house. But they did find under this four room house the foundation of the house that was built by Charles Pinckneys father. There were four rooms and a central hall. Are assuming that the structure had an upstairs, a upstairs like this cottage does. It was a working plantation, it was not built to impress. Over here you have a good image underneathdations the north and south porch. As well as what is very into ag, it didnt go privy here, but they did find the well. Two wells. And in the well they found a lot of materials, a lot of artifacts. If we have this archaeology and some of this book, if we have his papers to look at, the looks he owned and turned the pages of, it brings him back. It makes us able to relate to him as a human being, as a founder of this country. Privileges of the andponsibility responsibilities of working here. Is to keep that memory of Charles Pinckney and his contributions alive. To mark the centennial of the National Park service American History tv is featuring natural and Historic Sites across the country as reported by cspans city tour staff. We take a look at the history of the National Parks. The little white house got its name partly through an accident, partly through just the fact that Franklin Roosevelt had had a little white house. In our particular case, president truman was at Everglades City in december of 1947, and the press corps started yelling at the president , are you going to return to florida . And he said, of course i am coming back. I have a little white house down in key west. And so the house at that time was painted gray. The navy took this as an indication the president was returning, so they painted the building all white, so it is no longer navy grey. It is all white, the little white house. I would like to welcome you to the Harry S Truman little white house. It is floridas official president ial museum and has been used by seven american president s. It is camp david south. The little white house was built as the Navy Commanders home back in 1890. It has served a number of various commanders over almost a 100year span, but it was slightly interrupted by president s taft and Franklin Roosevelt and harry truman and Dwight Eisenhower and jimmy carter and bill clinton and department of state and the department of defense, so we seem to have a continuum through American History. This building was the largest building on the naval base. This was 9000 square feet. And consequently, it was built originally as the paymaster and commanders home. By 1911, Army Commander realized since we are getting a little snug, emerged it into a single dwelling of almost 9000 square feet. And at that time, key west was the command headquarters were the seventh naval district, which covered everything from key west to charleston. Admiral nimitz was here, inspecting the base, and he finds our base commander has moved to smaller quarters because he is a bachelor and does not want to bounce around in 9000 square feet by himself. So he has left this large home sitting vacant. Nimitz is here, sees the large house sitting empty, is impressed with all the research being done by the u. S. Navy in key west. And so he gets home to washington to learn the president of the United States has a cough he cannot seem to shake, so he immediately speaks up and says, i have a perfect vacation venue, warm, secure. I am sure, mr. President , you would love key west. And so that is why the president came for a week of r r. He is relaxing with his friends. They really are resting and swimming and soaking up the sun. And the president is writing to his wife, saying what a fabulous place it has turned out to be. His cold has disappeared in just a weeks time. And as he leaves, he promised the city commissioners, ever i get tired, i will be back. 12 weeks later, he is back. Each november and december and each february and march, the president would take up residence, a week, two weeks, three weeks at a time, and the little white house becomes a functioning white house the United States. President truman, on his very first occasion in key west, is invited by the navy to go out on a captured german sub. So president truman and 16 of his closest staff go out on his captured german sub. Captain of the sub is a missouri native, so they felt every bit of confidence that he would look after them, and they submerge to 450 feet, and the sub springs a leak. The staff wrote in the official logs, which happens to be on our website, that they were not the least bit concerned because we have missouri captain, he knew they would look out for him, but in the next breath they warned submariners that the next 50 cents or dollar an hour that they are paid because it was a very hazardous job. After a time, the instruments reengage and they slowly go to the surface, and the president sees the staff. He says, i see you are hiding your lack of apprehension in sitting in the puddles. President truman started coming here in 1946. The navy had not put money into fixing the place up. By 1949, the president had been here four times, and following the defeat of tom dewey, the navy realized the president would be coming back much more often. They hired the premier decorator of miami beach, and so the house is a remodel of 1949. The designer made no consultation with the president. He simply wanted to create a timeless venue, something that would be acceptable to the guests that would be coming to see the president , and he picked colors that were popular at the time, green walls, taupe, grays, tomato red. The house had 20 years of admirals living in it until 1974, so many of the things that had been done for truman were discarded. It was our task to restore the house as it was. And although we had the records of what was bought, they did not necessarily tell us who it was from. So we found this fabric that is shown in the drapes and on the couch. It turned out to be a waverley print. None of us knew that. We happen to find a scrap of fabric on ebay. We found 200 yards of fabric. We ended up needing 187 yards to complete the task. The paintings on the wall i had been led to believe were stolen until one day we found a notation that they have been loaned by the Naval Academy. The Naval Academy had no idea what i was talking about, and so finally we found a list of collection numbers from the truman library. We approach the Naval Academy for the paintings. They informed they were worth 2 million, and we were definitely not a president , so we were not getting them. They shot highresolution scans so all the paintings are exactly as they are in the photographs when president truman was here in the house. So the little white house is a very, very pure restoration to the time when president truman was using it as his little white house. At the moment, we are in president trumans living room. His library during the daytime was his office. Every evening to begin a movie theater. He has a staff of 59. Seven are playing poker, so what do you do with the rest of them . They ran firstrun films in the living room. There are many neat things about the little white house, and the living room is somewhat iconic in the number of pieces that are actually connected with president truman. [piano plays] his piano is in the corner. Rarely did the president have the piano here in key west. He instead, that piano came on board the president ial yacht, so on occasion it could be brought into the house. That was the way it was when the president was here as president. President truman was an extremely talented musician. At the age of 6, they found he had an incredible musical talent, and he enrolled in Music Lessons for the next 10 years. They expected him to become a concert pianist, and around 15 or 16, he dropped out and said he was not quite good enough. The truth of the matter is we believe he dropped out of lessons to save the family the cost of the expense. But he regularly played the piano, and he loved to play mozart and chopin and memory. He was an extremely fine pianist. In 1953, the uss williamsburg was decommissioned. President eisenhower felt it was a luxury he did not need. Being a navy vessel, all the artifacts from that ship were scattered. In 1964, about 10 years later, our base commander put out a directive i want the piano. They found the piano in storage in washington. The president was surprised to find his old piano back in the little white house. This is where the president came to relax. Now, the president told everyone he was on vacation, working vacations, but on vacation in key west. It turns out it was all a lie. Both the president and his staff were lying to each other. Harry would get up on vacation at 7 00 in the morning, read a newspaper, come downstairs, have a glass of orange juice with a shot of bourbon, and he would then go out walking 10 blocks at a pace of 120 paces a minute. That is cardio if i ever heard of it, and then he would take up his position at this desk. Every day or every other day, large mailbags would arrive, and they would contain correspondence, legislation, sometimes books, and he would literally run the country from this desk. After several hours, the president would insist that they would all go swimming, because it was important that his staff rests. His staff was working behind his back thinking the president at least is relaxing. And the president was doing exactly the same thing because every night he would take a stack of work up to his bedroom and work into the wee hours thinking at least he would find his staff resting. It came to a head when he wrote a letter to his cousin and he confesses, vacation is a farce. I am signing my name 200 to 600 times a day on vacation. The work of a president never ends. Which brings back this iconic symbol, the buck stops here. Truman made it quite famous because he believes all responsibility ends at the president s desk. It comes from the wild west. In the wild west, a bonehandled buck knife was placed in front of the dealer. When you did not want the responsibility, you passed the buck, and that is who indicated the dealer. Harry truman, being a poker player, would not know that. And so the buck stops here is the signed ended up on his desk. This is one of multiple copies the president received. The original is at his library in independence, missouri. The one thing that people rarely get to see is the back of the sign. The back of the sign says, i am from missouri. Why is that important . It reminded harry truman that he was not at her than any of the people who elected you, because one day he will go back on, and truman never lost that concept, never forgot who he was, nor where he was going. He was always one of us. At the moment, we are in the Harry S Truman little white house, the rec room, the wraparound porch, or a florida room. This is where the president relaxed with his death after hours. With his staff after hours. Probably one of the most iconic things in the house is this poker table. It was made for the president in our cabinet shop as a gift from the navy back in 1949. The president had already been here for four vacations prior to that, so the president relaxed by playing poker. To president truman, this was a teambuilding exercise. This is all about camaraderie had nothing to do about winning or losing money. We are fortunate that two of his staff are still living. One made eight of the 11 trips with the president to key west, and he says when they boarded the plane in washington, they threw 50 into the pot. During the month, the banker would save part of the winnings, so if they ran out of money, the banker advanced you more money. It was about teambuilding and camaraderie. He felt no one ever lost more than 20 the entire month staying in key west. President truman regarded the big white house as the great white jail. He felt he was constantly under everyones eye. By coming to key west he would let down his hair. Sometimes the staff would let their beards go for a couple days. They at times used offcolor stories, and they could have a glass of bourbon and visit back and forth without any scrutiny from the press. We know for a fact that president truman shared his decision not to run for reelection with his closest that sitting at the table. And for the next six months, not one person leaked the story. Truman had shared that information with them so they would have the opportunity to leave Government Service and get a job for everyone else left Government Service. He was looking out for his closest staff. He had great fun with his staff. He personally did not like fishing. He would go out fishing with his staff in order to bet on the biggest catch, the longest fish, things like that. A Sportswear Company sent a case of hawaiian shirts to the president with the thought that if the president is wearing our shirt, we will sell a lot of shirts. So president truman wore those shirts and then organized a loud shirt context. The craziest tropical shirt you could find, so the president was often seen wearing these wild, loud shirts. The press corps followed suit. They wore loud shirts, too, and theyve formed a little group of which president truman referred to them as the one more club, because they were always yelling, just one more, mr. President , one more. The house is very simple. If you go to europe, to palaces, if you go when we were allowed to go to the big white house, the white house is very formal and very president ial. The little white house reminds many of our visitors of their moms house or their grandmothers house or their favorite aunt. It is very humbly furnished. It is a very subtle, elegant house. The one thing people coming in say i could live here. This feels like my house. So it really is the peoples house in so many ways. It is not a palace by any means. They get it. Harry truman was truly human. Harry truman was one of us. And it certainly wouldve been so out of keeping with his character had they gilded furniture or something. It would have been inconceivable to harry truman to ever have anything like that. 100 years ago this august 25, president Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park service. American history tv is featuring natural and Historic Sites throughout the country. This is American History tv. Only on cspan3. I think most people are like i was when i first saw it. When you see it from a distance, you think that is interesting, that is kind of cool. The closer you get to it you realize how massive it is and getting to the base of it and touching it and looking up to the top, it is really very impressive. The closer you get to the more impressed you become. Were standing very close to the gateway arch in st. Louis. 630foot tall stainless steel structure designed in 1947 but not built into the mid 1960s and completed in 1965. Each year we get 2. 5 million visitors to see the are sp. It is a very busy place, especially during the summer months. It was designed by a man named eero saarinen. He came here to america when he was 10 years old with his father who was a famous architect. He had worked with his father up to the point in time where architectural competition was announced for what became the arch that you see behind me. The competition was for Jefferson National expansion memorial, which was a National Park service site founded by a president ial proclamation to commemorate st. Louiss role in the westward expansion in the United States. So 12 years after the founding of the park, an architectureal competition was held. 40 city blocks were torn down, erased of its original buildings to make way for the memorial on the st. Louis river front. Each architect who submitted a design proposal would do any he or she wanted. It could be a huge sculpture or anything they wanted it to be. They wanted one central feature. Some people put a big kind of monolithic rectangular block or something. He decided to go within an arch and it was only after he designed if arch that he realized it forms a gateway so it is proposal appropriate for st. Louiss role as a gateway to have a giantic gateway on the river front. It is made out of stainless steel on the outside and on the inside it is 3. 25 carbon steel. So basically you have a sandwich. In the lower portions it is filled in with concrete. In the upper portions it is reinforcing rods that keep the sections apart. It is kind of a unique structure because it doesnt have a super structure on the inside. There is no girders. It is not just stainless steel on the top. Sometimes visiters surprised because they havent learned about the arch to learn they can go to the top of it. They think it is just an outside sculpture and you just look at it. At each leg of the arc, there is trains that run on a track. When they get into the capsule it is hanging from the track. By the time they get to the top, it is on top of the track. In order to accommodate that and make sure people wont be flipped upside down it actually shifts and turns to keep the car level. It doesnt go fast like something out at a county fair or six flags or something. It is a unique experience. A lot of people pride in riding in the strange capsules to the top and getting the nice view from the top of the Observation Deck at the top. Right now, were in the midst of a multimilliondollar project being funded by different entities that are partnering with the National Park service to kind of revitalize the park itself and make it more accessible to people. For many years, weve been an island surrounded by high speed roads and what is going to happen is a lid is going to be placed over the highway so you can walk directly from the city, where you would probably park your vehicle directly to the arch where you dont have to cross any major streets. It is just this iconic graphic symbol of st. Louis, kind of like the space needle is statettle or the empire building or the statue of liberty is to new york. There are certain symbols that immediately identify a place on the map. The arch is the one for st. Louis. This thursday American History tv will mark the National Park Service Centennial with a specialized Program Starting at seven a. M. Eastern time. Time. M. Eastern this is American History tv only on cspan3. I think everybody is amazed by it is not a widely publicized presence here. People find out about this because they read magazine articles. It is not our typical colorado scenery, not what most people think of when they think of colorado. It comes as a surprise to find it here. John was a vagabond not in the sense that he was a nerd well, but he did not have any permanent roots. He was attracted to the area in 19 seven it was a type of country that was very appealing to him. He began to agitate for the creation of the National Park here. The first thing he did was wrote a lot of letters to prominent people trying to get it established as a National Park he also constructed a lot of trails to afford asked into the canyons. I am sure local people came out for a picnic and so on. One of the other things he did was in 1926, he started collecting buffalo nickels from the kids in town and used the money to transport a couple of bison in here. He wanted to establish a herd of bison in the monument. The oaks club conspired to bring a couple of elks. John got some money from the chamber of commerce and for many years, we had a bison here. Around andk one look they said theyre out of here and went on south into the high country. Oddly enough, theyre are coming back into the monument now. The bison, we removed in 1983 because they were confined to a small area and had an adverse impact on the resource. That was the kind of thing he did. He was constantly interested in promoting it and so on. There was no concerted effort until john otto came here to set it aside. There are a couple of distinctions between National Parks and National Monuments. One distinction was legal. The other is more based on resource qualities. The National Park here, the creation of a National Park for National Park requires an act of congress are is much more difficult to do. And National Monument can be established by a president ial proclamation. Though john otto wanted a National Park, it was easier to establish a National Monument and that is what happened when president taft proclaimed the area in 1911. The other distinction is resource base, generally, a National Monument is set aside in recognition of one spectacular feature. In this case, the erosional qualities of the monument. The National Park is like multiple National Monuments all thrown together. For example yellowstone, the first National Park, wildlife values as a Mountain Range running through it, a huge, high elevation. All of the thermal features and so on. That is what sets parks apart from monuments. It is a fuzzy boundary between them. Areas that are natural parks probably should be monuments and vice versa. Early attempts to make the monument accessible included building trails into some of the canyons and also pioneering a road into the monument called the servers trail. The serpents trail served not only to afford access to the monument, but also for ranchers living south of the monument, access to their land and so on. At some point, he envisioned the serpents trail would be the starting point for the union wrote, which would continue all the way from the Grand Junction area. He was a big schemer, dreaming of these huge rod checks and so on. That is one of the reasons he eventually left the monument. They thought they would like to have the same road but not running through the monument, running through the grand valley along the route of the railroad. As basically along the route of interstate 70 today. Auto ended up on the short end of the argument and that was one of those things because he was sova said first. It is one of the things that helped ease him out the door. Beyond the serpents trail, the park service but there would be a value in having a road. So that people would have a spectacular distance from nature of the cross and entered the monument. In 1929, the park service had already established drawings for rimrock drive. Chamber of commerce and some other sources. The construction did not start until after the start of the great depression. In 1933, after Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated, in his first hundred days, he did all kinds of things to stimulate the economy and one of them was the conservation corps. There were several camps and basically, those men along with local folks build the rimrock drive. It is a road that could not be built today. For environmental reasons and cost reasons and so on, no one would even to attempt such a project where it i think at the peak of the project, there were as many as 600 working on it. A lot of the work was handwork, using mules and sticks and shovels and so on your they had mechanized equipment and did a lot of lasting as well. Blasting as well. The administration has some presence here. The emergency room every administration and so on. There were a lot of out the better goal release agencies that work in the print during the depression years. They built fabulous sansone structures. Most of that work was done by local experienced men. They endured to this day and are on the national register. Really gorgeous buildings. John auto said this place was like the heart of the world for him. That is the feeling a lot of us have left and privileged to work here. Its a terrific place. I would encourage anybody to take the time to pay us a visit. A fresh experience with a short hike or commit to a longer stay. There is a lot to see and do. President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the National Park service. American history tv is featuring National Park Service Sites throughout the country. We continue with another stop on the cspans city tour. The day we are in the home of wood low wilson of Woodrow Wilson in augustine georgia. President wilson moved to augusta as a child when he was just ayearold could lived in another house, and then moved to this house when he was three. Dr. Wilsons father was originally from ohio. And had gone into the presbyterian ministry. When he first came to augusta, he was making 2500 a year and was provided a home, but in 1860, they liked him so much and they wanted him to stay, so they sweetened the pot, so to speak, and raised his salary to 3000 a year and bought a new house, which is the one we are in today. Where the family moved in 1860. To give you an idea of what 3000 was in those days most families in the United States, depending on what they did and certain circumstances, but most families lived on between 300 and 800 a year. So he was making 2500 and then 3000 a year, which is a large income. And we, today, on exactly the same property that the wilsons occupied in 1860. This is the study, or Joseph Wilson would have spent a lot of his time doing his congregational work, preparing his sermons, meeting with parishioners, keeping congregational records. But it was remembered by Woodrow Wilsons younger brother as being lined with books and smelling of tobacco. The father smoked a pipe, and we have a humidor here on the table behind us. Now, Woodrow Wilson, when he was a boy, did not learn his letters until he was nine and he did not read until he was 11. In the 1860s they do not know what dyslexia was. But he did have trouble reading and was very slow and deliberate reader for the rest of his life. When the young tommy wilson did not know the meaning of the word, his father would send him to the dictionary to look at a. He often admonished him to use proper properly structured sentences as he could possibly come up with. As a minister, of course, that was an art for him. He would say, when you are framing a sentence, do it as if you are shooting a rifle. And with the rifle with that one bullet, you hit straight on with the word you intend to use. Dont do it as if you are shooting a shotgun and you kind of spray all around the word humane. But it doesnt exactly hit the mark. I think that is good advice for us even today when you are trying to write or speak. President wilsons very first memory was in november of 1860, before he was four years old. He was standing on the front he was standing on the front gate, out in front of the house, and two men came by in a hurry, with very excited tones of voice. And they said Abraham Lincoln has just been elected president. And theres going to be a war. Young tommy ran inside to ask his father what was war, what did that mean, why were they so excited . We think its remarkable that his very first memory was about another president , Abraham Lincoln, and about another war, the civil war. And of course, wilson would leave the country through world war i. This family is representative of what we often hear about the house divided. Because the wilsons were from ohio, the mothers family also lived in ohio, although they had immigrated from england and scotland. But the wilsons lived here in augustine and they were the only ones on his side of the family who were in the south and took the Southern Side of the conflict. All of his brothers and sisters, his mother was of norse of the time up north at the time it. They created a bit of a division. The civil war affected the wilsons like it did most people. We often hear during the latter part of the civil war was subject to huge inflation with money. Of course currency was getting more and more worthless. We see that demonstrated with the church records. That was given to them quarterly in 750 installments. Of 1864, thert first part of 1865, they pay him regular installments and start shoving money in the thousands , 5000 here, 3000 there, 10,000 there. Of course, it was practically worthless. And then when the war was over, there is really no payment until the u. S. Currency started coming into play in the south. And they kind of got back on their feet. As he grew older, president wilson remembered the war and reflected back on it from time to time. His Fathers Church was turned into a stockade of sorts with union and confederate people he came here after the battle of chickamauga so he wouldve seen the wounded and dying soldiers, right in his Fathers Church and surrounding in the yard. So that would have had a profound impact. He thought of war truly is held. As hell, and not a good thing. When world war i began to escalate, there was an effort to get america our with one side of the other. Wilson, being president , resisted because he remembered war, he knew of its misery and what misery it could bring to the american people. He wanted to avoid that if at all possible. All that goes right back to his experiences as a child during the civil war. This is the best room, it was the best space in the house, reserved for your guests. Therefore you have a bed and bedchamber here. It would also double as a sitting room for more informal visits that the family might have had with more intimate neighbors and friends that they did not need to take them to the formal parlor for. One of the things in this room that is really interesting is this panel, this glass pane that includes a scratch of the word tom, that was done by the president himself when he was a child. He must have gotten his mothers diamond ring and scratched his name in the glass, something you find in many old houses. The signature is on the glass actually matches some of his earliest signatures. We are very certain that is him. His name was thomas Woodrow Wilson, he only dropped his first name after he started to law school at the university of virginia. Because he felt that one day he would become an important political figure, he thought at that time he would be a senator. But he didnt think that tommy wilson sounded dignified enough, so with his familys permission he dropped his first name and just went by woodrow. Woodrow being his mothers maiden name. Back here are pictures of his maternal grandparents, thomas woodrow, for whom he was named, his grandfather, his grandfather marion woodrow. Woodrow was a great reformer, interested in, even from childhood, translating into his career as president and governor, and then president of the United States come he was always examining the rules, the bylaws, the constitution. And trying to improve it. As president , some of the first things he did were to have economic impact, he established the Federal Reserve act, setting up a system of national banking. The clayton antitrust act, which took the antitrust laws farther than they had gone in previous acts. He enacted, under his watch, there were enacted labor laws, child labor laws, and also Railroad Worker laws, the our day was established. The child labor laws had to do with age limits on children working in factories. Which previously had almost no effect. There was no checks and balances on that. Initially have been coming along before, but the amendment that made senators elected directly by the people rather than other state legislatures was ratified by wilson in 1913. One thing that is important to us as historic preservationists is is 1916 he established the National Park service. The parks that existed before that, he established what we now know as the National Park service is. He organized it all into a systematic way of administering the parks. One thing that people probably dont appreciate that he did in the financial realm was, the act that led to the establishment of the federal income tax. Which is still with us. Theyre so many things today that we just take for granted, that we are used to and we hear about all the time, we often dont connect them to the wilson administration. In november of 1911, when president wilson was still governor of new jersey and considering a run for the presidency, he was going around the country talking to various political wellconnected people, including newspaper editors and press folks, he came to augustine and spent a weekend here. He took tours of the city, he actually watched ty cobb, who lived in the time downtown, there was a reception and so forth. On sunday he went to church with his father, as he always did attend church on sunday, and the pastor invited him to come to sunday dinner, which he did. Which was held here in this room. As he was having dinner, he sat at the table and said this is the very table that i sat at as a child, and he got up under the table and show them some scuff marks he thought he had made with his feet. While he was here, he also had a photograph taken in the yard. This was taken during the visit. You can see he is here on the right, the ladies and children are the severe family, mrs. Severe and her daughter, virginia, and son john and a friend, sadie fields, who was here the time. We treasure this photograph, its the only one that we have of him here at the site that was taken here at the site. In augustine would like to refer to certain quotes the wilson used from time to time. One of those is that a boy never gets over his boyhood and never can change, the subtle influences that became part of him and were formed in him when he was a child. When people come to visit the wilson house in augustine, we hope they leave with a number of ideas about the man, Woodrow Wilson. For instance, that is later life was affected by his childhood here during the civil war and reconstruction. How the federal governments played an Important Role in peoples lives. As he experienced as a child. His education, his religion, all started here in augustine. Also, his leadership. His leadership ability started here in augustine. With the Lightfoot Baseball Club and eventually led to more and more organizations with more and more responsibility and grander and grander ideas. Until he was organizing the entire world. We think that is a very important thing that should be told here in augustine. It started right here in this house. To mark the centennial of the National Park service, American History tvs featuring natural and Historic Sites across the country as recorded by cspans city tour staff. We continue now with our look at the history of National Parks. The natives engraved on the face of this rock figures of animals, et cetera, near which i marked my name and the day of the month and year. This morning were going to walk up pompeys National Monument, talks a little about the site. Why is this important not only to the had istry of the United States but also the history of yellowstone county, montana as well as the west in general. As we ascend pompeys pillar, i want people to think about what it was like 200 years ago. Think about this. Clark and his party are heading down the yellowstone river, hoping and planning to meet up with lewis, and as they are coming down the river, theyre having to stop at various intervals. And you might ask, well, what are they stopping for . Therapy they are stopping to hunt, they gather food. Theyre stopping because of the immense herds of buffalo that are crossing the riv and when i talk immense, im talking about herds of buffalo so large that there would be times they would have to stop for four even six hours to wait for the buffaloes to cross the river before they could continue on. And then the reasons they would stop partly curiosity and the natural intent of an explorer, which is to look at the land and see the land. So as we think about all of those things, and as we tell the story today, clark is coming down the yellowstone, and that morning they had gotten up. They had hunted. Seen immense herds of buffalo, and he decides to get off the river and walk for a while and sees this. This large sandstone outcrop here, and i think its just naturally part of Human Interest to want to come to something large, climb up on top of it and look around, and thats exactly what he did. As part of an explorer, somebody that was looking to traverse the west, to create maps, to learn about things that, the landscape, the natural history, et cetera. He comes and he ascends the pillar, goes up on top, looks around, triangulates his position, comes down and on his way down leaves his mark. Right here, his signature. The only remaining onsite physical evidence of the entire lewis and clark expedition. This signature represents not just the visit of clark, but i think of it as signifying a start of something. In ways its been here before him. 1826 and subsequently written about and chronicled in his journals led a lot of folks who then traveled across the west to come to this rock and mark their names as well as drawings, inscriptions, all kinds of things all over the rock. As you look for his signature directly to the left you can see all of these different signatures and marks and names and they cover the entire rock. So throughout pompeii the pillar are these signatures. Hundreds of them, startle with explorer, fur trappers, not long after clark visited. Then going into the time of the homesteader and travel trains up to the modern era, folks too tilled the land after the turn of the century. Im sure if we looked hard enough we would probably find some local High School Classes name on here from the 60s and 70s. Pompeys pillar tell as story and continues on today with this legacy of all of these people that have passed by. So each time a visitor comes here, given they can no longer scrawl their names or write on the rock, they leave that legacy, too. As i mentioned before, that legacy kind of started before clark. If you look over here at the rock, you can see where there are some markings on the rock in sort of a reddish hour. Those are actually native american picture graphs and petroglyphs. This site was culturally significant to the native americans of the area. When we get on top ill explain why there was significance to the site both culturally and given the immense hunting to the native americans that lived in this area. This rock i ascended, and when from its top hat the most extensive view in every direction. Ther satisfying myself at prospect of the land around i proceeded on. Were standing at the top of pump people are that of pompey standing at the top of pompey pillar. What is remarkable and amazing what is remarkable and amazing about this site is we are able to tell a story that is over 200 years by standing in one spot. What is also remarkable is being able to stand here and see these landmarks, and the landscape, from what it was 200 years ago, but also for what it is today. The first thing is the animals. When clark was here 200 years ago, this landscape was covered with buffalo, elk, antelope, all kinds of different species would have been here and with them the same predators weve read about many times. Coyote, Mountain Lion and, of course, the wolf. You ask, why were all of those animals here, and theyre certainly not here today . As you look at the rims and the cliff formation around me you see this natural break. This was a funnel. These rims run all the way to billings and quite a distance to the east. Here we have a natural break where these herds of buffalo, elk and other animals would have been able to funnel down to the river, cross, and feed in this area. Thus, when we talk back about the native americans and their use of the site, the idea they had this large platform to stand upon and use both for cultural ceremonies but also for hunting is immense, if you think about the number of animals that would have been in this area on a regular basis. As we think about that we think about the changes because for us the buffalo herds are not really here anymore. There are still some elk seen. The big horn sheep that were seen by clark on the cliffs are no longer here. We still have a few Mountain Lions hanging out in the area and, of course, coyotes Wander Around every once in a while. But the landmarks are still here. From those landmarks start a story story. That story is of the west. Pompeys pill sir where you can tell the entire story of our countrys west from one place. To mark the centennial of the National Park service we are featuring Historic Sites and National Parks from cspans city tour. For more information, check out. Ur website cspan. Org you are watching American History tv all weekend every weekend on cspan3. App makes itdio easy to continue following the 2016 election. It is free to download. Get audio coverage and. Ptotheminute schedule all of thedate on election coverage. Next on American History tvs reel america, from 1935, the land of the giants. 24 minute interior Department Film documents the efforts of the civilian conservation corps to develop californias national and state parks during the great depression. The film promote the values of the ccc and shows the details of the daily life for the men in the work camps