The Capitol Attack of 1861 (Replay)
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2022
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
Today, we return to a favorite episode from Season 2 in honor of the new three-part documentary, "Abraham Lincoln", premiering on The HISTORY Channel starting Sunday, February 20th, 2022.
February 13, 1861. The city of Washington DC is waiting. Bracing itself. For weeks, there have been threats that this day is going to get violent because pro-slavery voters feel the recently elected president, Abraham Lincoln, is a threat to their way of life. Today, Lincoln is supposed to be affirmed when the electoral votes are counted in the US Capitol building, but on the morning of the count, hundreds of anti-Lincoln rioters storm the building. Their goal: to stop the electoral count. What happened when a mob of anti-Lincoln rioters tried to take over the US Capitol? And how did American democracy handle the test?
Thank you to our guest, Ted Widmer, distinguished lecturer at the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY and author of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington.
Correction: The Emancipation Proclamation only freed enslaved people in the Confederacy, not throughout the country.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey history this week listeners, we are re-airing a special episode today in |
| 0:04.8 | honor of a new history channel documentary Abraham Lincoln. The three-night |
| 0:09.5 | event starts Sunday February 20th. This is one of my favorite episodes we've |
| 0:13.9 | done on the show. It takes us back to the moment Lincoln was first elected and a |
| 0:18.1 | capital insurrection that challenged American democracy. Here it is. |
| 0:23.1 | The History Channel, original podcast. History this week, February 13th, 1861. |
| 0:33.8 | I'm Sally Helm. The air is still today. The New York Times would later write that |
| 0:42.3 | the flags over the Capitol building aren't flapping but are hanging loose |
| 0:45.9 | against their staves. And the city of Washington DC is waiting, bracing itself. |
| 0:53.8 | Because for weeks there have been threats that this day is going to get violent. |
| 0:59.8 | The country has just come through a contentious election. The winner is Abraham |
| 1:06.3 | Lincoln. He's a Republican. He's opposed to slavery and against its expansion |
| 1:12.0 | and post-lavery voters, especially many southern voters, think that Lincoln's |
| 1:17.3 | election spells the end of their way of life. And they're not having it. Seven |
| 1:24.9 | states have already seceded. Today is a very important day for this |
| 1:32.3 | democracy in crisis. In the halls of Congress Lincoln's victory will be |
| 1:36.7 | affirmed when the electoral votes are officially counted. But on the morning |
| 1:42.4 | of February 13th, anti-Lincoln rioters begin pouring into the streets. |
| 1:48.4 | People are armed, many have been drinking. They all collect in front of the |
| 1:53.5 | Capitol building. Their goal is to stop the electoral count. Today the |
| 2:02.5 | Capitol attack of 1861. What happened when a mob of anti-Lincoln rioters tried |
| 2:09.6 | to take over the US Capitol? How did American democracy handle the test? |
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