Civil war's essentially a war about slavery er. And it's the war that has been a long time. We can look back 30, forty years with conflicts between southern states that generally owned slaves and their economy was entirely based uron slavery. Two northern states which had generally got rid of slavery by the mid of the middle of the nineteenth century. But it all comes to a head with the election of abraham lincoln in 18 60. Because for the very first time, a president is elected purely on northern votes,. None of the southern states vote for lincoln. If you're a southern state, then you think there's going to be northerners dominating the presidency from now on
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, ten sentences long, delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg after the Union forces had won an important battle with the Confederates. Opening with " Four score and seven years ago," it became one of the most influential statements of national purpose, asserting that America was "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" and "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Among those inspired were Martin Luther King Jr whose "I have a dream" speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial 100 years later, echoed Lincoln's opening words.
With
Catherine Clinton
Denman Chair of American History at the University of Texas and International Professor at Queen's University, Belfast
Susan-Mary Grant
Professor of American History at Newcastle University
And
Tim Lockley
Professor of American History at the University of Warwick
Producer: Simon Tillotson.