We have 72 different countries represented here, but we're here in the moment in the United States,

and one of the most important days in the history of these United States is surely January 1st,

1863.

The day that President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation,

freeing all slaves in rebel states in this country.

Anybody with me on that?

And of course we know it would take several years for the 13th Amendment to be passed, and

it would be until June 10th of 1865 for the final enslaved people in the state of Texas

to receive news that they were now free. But the moment that Lincoln kept his promise he made in September

of 1862 and actually signed the document, January 1st, 1863, was a massive moment.

And his hand shook as he approached the papers to sign these documents, But not because he wasn't confident in what he was about to do.

His hand shook because his hand was really tired.

You see, going all the way back to President George Washington,

there was a tradition in this country that on the first day of the new year, our commander

in chief would make himself available to the entire country to shake as many hands as people

wanted to show up at the Oval Office or whatever place the president was working to get in line

and shake his hand. The longest line that ever formed was for President Teddy Roosevelt.

The line was 8,510 people long.

We have a photo on the screen of people in line queued up to shake the president's hand.

And the president was expected to just stand there and shake every single hand, right?

There was no germex back then either, so that gives me the creeps.

Anybody else?

...