>> Stephen: HEY, EVERYBODY, WE'RE BACK HERE WITH JEFFREY
WRIGHT.
YOU'RE NARRATING A NEW FOUR-PART DOCUSERIES CALLED "LINCOLN'S
DILEMMA."
>> YES.
>> Stephen: WHAT IS "LINCOLN'S DILEMMA."
>> WELL, IT'S A SERIES THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 18th ON
APPLE TV+, AND IT EXAMINES LINCOLN'S PRESIDENCY OVER FOUR
PARTS AND THE EVOLUTION OF HIS PRESIDENCY.
THE DILEMMA FOR LINCOLN, I THINK LINCOLN, ON ALL SIDES, WAS
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE.
THERE WERE DILEMMA'S EVERYWHERE.
BUT, YOU KNOW, I'M JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE, I'M NOT A
PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN, I KNOW A REASONABLE AMOUNT ABOUT OUR
HISTORY, BUT OUR HISTORY IS SO VAST, AND THERE ARE THINGS IN
THIS SERIES I WASSENT AWARE OF.
THERE WAS AN INCIDENT INDICATIVE OF THE CHALLENGE LINCOLN FACED
OR THE TIMES IN WHICH HE PRESIDED OVER THIS COUNTRY.
IN 1850, TEN YEARS BEFORE LINCOLN WAS ELECTED.
THE IF YOU'VIVE SLAVE ACT WAS PASSED WHICH BASICALLY SAYS,
HEY, YOU, SLAVE OWNER, IF YOU HAVE SOME OF THE HUMAN BEINGS
THAT YOU OWN, IF THEY HAPPEN TO RUN AWAY TO FREEDOM, YOU HAVE
THE RIGHT NOT ONLY TO GO RETRIEVE THEM, BUT YOU CAN DO IT
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
AND THERE'S ANEN INCIDENT IN 1851 IN A TOWN CALLED
CHRISTIANA, PENNSYLVANIA, 20 MILES NORTH OF THE
MASON-DIXON LINE, FOUR MEN ESCAPED A FARM IN MARYLAND AND
THEY FOUND SAFE HAVEN THERE IN A HOME THAT WAS OWNED BY A COUPLE
CALLED THE PARKERS, WILLIAM AND ELIZA PARKER, WHO THEMSELVES
WERE RUNAWAY SLAVES WHO WERE NOW FREE PEOPLE.
THEY LIVED IN A COMMUNITY THERE, WHITES AND BLACKS TOGETHER, A
QUAKER COMMUNITY, BLACK FREE PEOPLE, AND IT SEEMS RELATIVELY
HARMONIOUS, IT SEEMED ACTUALLY A LONG WAY FROM, YOU KNOW, THE
BRUTALITY THEY HAD ESCAPED.
WELL, THESE FOUR MEN FOUND SAFE HAVEN IN THE HOME OF THE
PARKERS, AND THEIR OWNER OR FORMER OWNER, A MAN NAMED EDWARD
GORSUCH, CAME YOU HAVE FROM MARYLAND EARLY ONE MORNING, HE
HAD A GROUP OF MEN INCLUDING ONE OF HIS SONS AND A U.S. MARSHAL
AND HE CAME TO RETRIEVE THESE MEN, ESSENTIALLY TO KIDNAP THEM.
AND A CONVERSATION ENSUED IN THE MIDST AT DAWN AS HE ARRIVED AT
THIS HOUSE, AND IN EXCHANGE -- AND AN EXCHANGE TOOK PLACE
BETWEEN TWO GROUPS AND HE WAS ESSENTIALLY TOLD, WELL, YOU CAN
COME GET US, BUT IF YOU DO, YOU MIGHT BE GETTING SOME OF THESE
BULLETS, TOO.
THEY WERE GOING TO FIGHT FOR THEIR FREEDOM.
OUT OF THESE TENSIONS, SHOTS WERE FIRED FROM THE SIDE OF
GORSUCH AND HIS MEN.
FIRE WAS RETURNED FROM THE HOUSE.
GORSUCH WAS KILLED, HIS SON WAS WOUNDED, THOSE MEN DISPERSED.
THE MEN WHO HAD ESCAPED FLED.
SOME OF THEM MADE THEIR WAY TO CANADA TO FURTHER FREEDOM.
THERE WAS A HUGE TRIAL AFTERWARD.
41 PEOPLE WERE TRIED FOR TREASON AGAINST THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, FOR
TREASON.
THE FIRST CASE, THE JURY ACQUITTED THIS MAN, A WHITE MAN
IN 15 MINUTES, AND THE REST OF THE CHARGES WERE DISMISSED.
BUT THE INTERESTING DETAIL FOR ME THAT IS INDICATIVE OF HOW
DENSE AND COMPLICATED THE ISSUES OF THE DAY WERE WAS THERE WAS A
MAN NAMED NOAH BUELLY, ONE OF THE RUNAWAYS, HE WAS DESCRIBED
AS A MU LATO.
HE WAS SAID TO HAVE FIRED THE FIRST SHOT IN RETURN FROM THE
HOUSE.
HE WAS ALSO REPORTED TO BE EDWARD GORSUCH'S SON, A SON THAT
HE HAD FATHERED BY A WOMAN THAT HE ENSLAVED.
AND IT -- YOU KNOW, A LOT OF TENSIONS AMONG FAMILIES, YOU
KNOW, NOWADAYS, POLITICAL TENSIONS, BUT CAN YOU IMAGINE
THANKSGIVING AT THE GORSUCH'S?
PRETTY TENSE.
NOAH BUELLY PROBABLY WASN'T INVITED TO THE TABLE.
BUT, FOR ME, I DIDN'T KNOW OF THIS STORY, AND IT WAS SO
TELLING ABOUT HOW COMPLICATED OUR HISTORY IS, HOW INTERTWINED
WE ARE.
YOU KNOW, WE'RE HAVING CONVERSATIONS NOW ABOUT RACE,
AND YOU HAVE PEOPLE WHO DON'T REALLY SEEM TO BE QUALIFIED TO
HAVE THESE CONVERSATIONS, BUT THEY HAVE LARGE MICROPHONES, BUT
THEY CERTAINLY DON'T SEEM TO BE AWARE OF DETAILS HIKE THAT THAT
EXIST THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY BECAUSE, ON THAT DAY, EDWARD
GORSUCH WAS WHITE, AND HIS SON WAS CLEARLY BLACK.
SO WE'RE ASKING QUESTIONS NOW IN PUBLIC ABOUT RACE THAT HAVE BEEN
ANSWERED MANY, MANY DECADES AGO IN OUR HISTORY, BUT IF WE GO
BACK AND READ THAT HISTORY, REVISIT THAT HISTORY, THE
LESSONS THAT LINCOLN LEFT US, THE LESSONS THAT PEOPLE LIKE
FREDERIC DOUGLAS LEFT US, WHO WAS A BIG INFLUENCE ON LINCOLN,
IF WE REVISIT THOSE MEN'S JOURNEYS, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF OUR
QUESTIONS MIGHT BE ANSWERED BECAUSE, YEAH, WE'RE DIVIDED
NOW, BUT IT'S NOT AS BAD AS IT WAS BACK IN THE MID 19
19th CENTURY.
WE HAVE IT PRETTY GOOD COMPARED TO WHAT WAS GOING ON BACK THEN,
AND THEY GOT THROUGH IT, AND PERHAPS IF WE FOLLOW THEIR LEAD,
WE'LL GET THROUGH THESE DIFFICULT, CHALLENGING DAYS
WE'RE FACING NOW.
>> Stephen: HOPEFULLY WITH FEWER BULLETS.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE.
>> THANKS FOR HAVING ME.
>> STEPHEN: LINCOLN'S DILEMMA PREMIERES ON APPLE TV+ THIS
FRIDAY.
JEFFREY WRIGHT, EVERYBODY WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK WITH "THE
MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL'S," ALEX BORSTEIN.