Podcasts about william seward

【欢迎订阅】每天早上5:30，准时更新。【阅读原文】标题:An American purchase of Greenland could be the deal of the centuryThe economics of buying new territory正文：Although America has a history of taking a commercial approach to international relations, purchases are rarely made without controversy. When Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana in 1803, doubling the size of the country, he had to set aside his zest for constitutional constructivism, which would have ruled out such bold federal action. Sixty-four years later, when William Seward, then secretary of state, purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2m ($162m today), the move was dubbed “Seward's folly”. Now the Alaska deal is seen as a masterstroke and the Louisiana purchase the greatest achievement of one of America's greatest presidents. In hindsight, both look extraordinarily good value.知识点：approach n. /əˈproʊtʃ/a way of dealing with sb/sth; a way of doing or thinking about sth such as a problem or a task（待⼈接物或思考问题的）⽅式，⽅法，态度• The school has decided to adopt a different approach to discipline.学校决定采取另外⼀种⽅式解决纪律问题。• She took the wrong approach in her dealings with them.她⽤错误的⼿段和他们打交道。获取外刊的完整原文以及精讲笔记，请关注微信公众号「早安英文」，回复“外刊”即可。更多有意思的英语干货等着你！【节目介绍】《早安英文-每日外刊精读》，带你精读最新外刊，了解国际最热事件：分析语法结构，拆解长难句，最接地气的翻译，还有重点词汇讲解。所有选题均来自于《经济学人》《纽约时报》《华尔街日报》《华盛顿邮报》《大西洋月刊》《科学杂志》《国家地理》等国际一线外刊。【适合谁听】1、关注时事热点新闻，想要学习最新最潮流英文表达的英文学习者2、任何想通过地道英文提高听、说、读、写能力的英文学习者3、想快速掌握表达，有出国学习和旅游计划的英语爱好者4、参加各类英语考试的应试者（如大学英语四六级、托福雅思、考研等）【你将获得】1、超过1000篇外刊精读课程，拓展丰富语言表达和文化背景2、逐词、逐句精确讲解，系统掌握英语词汇、听力、阅读和语法3、每期内附学习笔记，包含全文注释、长难句解析、疑难语法点等，帮助扫除阅读障碍。

En 1867, un certain William Seward a dépensé 7,2 millions de dollars pour acheter l'Alaska qui était alors un territoire russe. Et si Donald Trump s'en inspirait pour s'offrir le Groenland ? Ecoutez Le monde en marche avec William Galibert du 10 janvier 2025.

Learn that the idea of gratitude and giving thanks is an ancient concept for mankind and expressly elevated in the Bible. Review how days of thanksgiving were originally commemorated in the English colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts, with the English dissenters, the Pilgrims, having the most influential celebrations. In the colonial era, Thanksgiving celebrations were centered on particular events and circumstances, and, accordingly, happened at different times. As Americans united against British tyranny, they made continental wide proclamations through the Continental Congress, but again tied to specific events and times. President George Washington issued the first two Thanksgiving Proclamations under the Constitution, and John Adams and James Madison did the same. Thomas Jefferson refused, and after James Madison, Thanksgiving was proclaimed by the States, but not by the President, until Abraham Lincoln. Sarah Josepha Hale's drive to create a uniform, nation wide celebration was embraced by Lincoln and his successors, and it became firmly fixed to the Fourth Thursday of November under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Feasts, running, football, parades, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday all flow from this powerful day of gratitude. Highlights include the Bible, Thessalonians 5:16-18, Colossians 2:7, Psalm 100:4, Colossians 4:2, Psalm 92, Philippians 4:6, King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth Anne Boleyn, Church of England, John Calvin, Puritans, Common Book of Prayers, King James I, Pilgrims, Mayflower, Plymouth England, Plymouth Harbor Massachusetts, Mayflower Compact, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Samoset, Squanto, Wampanoag, William Bedford, Thanksgiving commemoration, Melanie Kirkpatrick, Thanksgiving The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience, William Bradford, Berkeley Plantation a/k/a Berkeley Hundred, The Margaret, John Woodlief, Jamestown, the Starving Time, Chief Opechancanough, Massacre of 1622, Massachusetts Bay Colony, New Amsterdam, First Continental Congress, Second Continental Congress, Day of Humiliation Fasting and Prayer (1776), Henry Laurens, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation (1777), Battle of Saratoga, Thomas McKean, Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, George Washington, James Madison, Elias Boudinot, Aedanus Burke, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Federalist Party, Anti-Federalists, Peter Silvester, Roger Sherman, Articles of Confederation, Continental Association, Constitution, William Samuel Johnson, Ralph Izard, Washington Thanksgiving Day Proclamation , Whiskey Rebellion, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Letter, James Madison, First Amendment, War of 1812, Abraham Lincoln, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Northwood: A Tale of New England, Vassar College, domestic science, Ladies' Magazine, Godey's Lady's Book, Civil War, William Seward, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln Thanksgiving Proclamation, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a/k/a FDR, National Retail Dry Goods Association, Franksgiving, Allen Treadway, Earl Michener, FDR Thanksgiving Speech, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Johnson Thanksgiving Speech (1963), President John F. Kennedy, President Ronald Reagan, Reagan Thanksgiving Speech, President Barak Obama Thanksgiving Speech, President George W. Bush, President Bush Thanksgiving Day visit to the troops in Iraq, President Donald Trump, Trump Thanksgiving Day visit to troops in Afghanistan, Trump Speech to troops on Thanksgiving, President Bill Clinton Pardoning of Turkey, Presidential Pardons of Turkey, Thanksgiving Dinner & Feast, Thanksgiving parades, Grumbles, Macy's, Hudson's, Turkey Trot, National Football League (NFL) Thanksgiving Games, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, Walter Camp, Collegiate Football Thanksgiving Games, George A. Richards, The Chicago Bears, Black Friday, Giving Tuesday, Henry Timms, Cyber Monday, and many others. To learn more about America & Patriot Week, visit www.PatriotWeek.org. Our resources include videos, a TV series, blogs, lesson plans, and more. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-warren9/support

This week on The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of DFER and Dr. Jocelyn Chadwick interview Catherine Clinton, Denman Professor of American History at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and author of Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. Prof. Clinton discusses her definitive biography of Harriet Tubman, the renowned abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor. She reflects on Tubman's early life as Araminta Ross, born into slavery in antebellum Maryland, and the formative experiences that shaped her resistance to oppression. Clinton covers a traumatic head injury Tubman suffered, her deep religious faith, and the spiritual visions that guided her. She also explores Tubman's marriage to John Tubman, her escape to freedom in 1849, and her leadership in rescuing enslaved people. Prof. Clinton also delves into the dangers Tubman faced under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, her work with prominent abolitionists like John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and William Seward, and her service as a Union spy and military leader during the Civil War. Additionally, Clinton reflects on Tubman's later life in upstate New York, her advocacy for women's suffrage, and her enduring legacy in American history. In closing, Prof. Clinton reads a passage form her biography, Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom.

This week on The Learning Curve, co-hosts Charlie Chieppo and Ret. MN Justice Barry Anderson interview Edward Achorn, a noted writer, historian, and author of Every Drop of Blood: The Momentous Second Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln and The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History. Achorn shares insights into Lincoln's improbable political rise and the critical events leading to his 1860 Republican presidential nomination, including his strategic maneuvering following his defeat in the 1858 Illinois Senate race. He discusses the significance of the 1860 Republican Convention in Chicago, where Lincoln bested more prominent candidates like William Seward. Mr. Achorn also examines the broader political landscape of the time and the importance of Lincoln's second inaugural address, delivered amidst the Civil War's devastation, and its profound impact on American political discourse. Additionally, Achorn highlights Lincoln's intellectual influences and how his mastery of language shaped pivotal moments in American history. He brings to life the key figures surrounding Lincoln during his second inauguration, painting a vivid picture of Washington at this crucial juncture in the nation's past. In closing, Achorn reads a passage from his book Every Drop of Blood.

In light of calls for President Joe Biden to step down because of cognition issues and the near assassination of President Donald Trump, its time to revisit the 25th Amendment. Learn about how the original, unamended Constitution addressed the death, removal, or incapacity of the President or Vice President and its three major defects. The original Constitution left gapping holes about under what circumstances, and in what way, power would flow between the President and Vice President. For many decades, the shortcomings of the original Article II, Section 1 provisions of the Constitution were laid bare — through deaths, illnesses, and incapacitations of Presidents and Vice Presidents. Explore how the country dealt with those flaws until the adoption of the 25th Amendment in 1967 with the illness, incapacity, disability, and grievous injures of Presidents Woodrow Wilson, James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, and others — which were hidden — and the implications for history.  Walk through the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Section 1 of the 25th Amendment makes clear that when a President dies, is removed, or resigns, that the Vice President becomes President. Section 2 of the 25th Amendment provides a process to replace the Vice President. Section 3 of the 25th Amendment provides a simple mechanism by which the President can temporarily cede power to the Vice President. Section 4 of the 25th Amendment provides a process by which a President incapable or unwilling to declare him or herself incapable of performing his or her duties to be replaced by a Vice President as acting President. If there is a dispute, Congress decides with a two-thirds threshold. Understand how the 25th Amendment was used by President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush when undergoing medical procedures.  Review the calls by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer to replace President Donald Trump through the 25th Amendment.  Highlights include Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House Nanci Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Vice President Mike Pence, January 6 Capitol Protest a/k/a January 6 Storming of the Capitol, President Donald Trump, President (and Vice President) Joe Biden, President William Henry Harrison death, President John Tyler, President Richard Nixon resignation, President Abraham Lincoln assassination (and assassination plot against Vice President Andrew Johnson, William Seward, and General Ulysses S. Grant), Succession Act of 1792, Vice President Spiro Agnew resignation, President Gerald Ford appointment as Vice President and ascension as President, John Dickinson, Saul K. Padover, James Madison, President James Garfield assassination attempt (and lingering illness and death), Thomas Neal, President Grover Cleveland secret surgeries, President Woodrow Wilson stroke and lingering illness, Secretary of State Robert Lansing convening cabinet meetings during Wilson's illness, President Dwight Eisenhower heart attack, Vice President temporarily acting as President (Vice President Nixon and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ)), President John F. Kennedy (JFK) assassination, Birch Bay, passage by Congress and ratification of the 25th Amendment, presidential disability (including President George W. Bush (Vice President Dick Cheney) and President Ronald Reagan (Vice President Herbert Walker Bush)), invoking of 25th Amendment following January 6, by the House Judiciary Committee, impeachment, and many others. To learn more about the Constitution & Patriot Week, visit www.PatriotWeek.org. Our resources include videos, a TV series, blogs, lesson plans, and more. Check out Judge Michael Warren's book America's Survival Guide, How to Stop America's Impending Suicide by Reclaiming Our First Principles and History at www.AmericasSurvivalGuide.com, amazon, or other major on-line retailers. Join us! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-warren9/support

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern radicals were moving ever closer to dividing the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.In today's episode I'm speaking to Erik Larson, author of “The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War. “ We analyze the chaotic months between Lincoln's election and the Confederacy's shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”At the heart of this narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter's commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don't see a cataclysm coming until it's too late.

Matt Crawford speaks with author Tim Wendell about his book, Rebel Falls. Rory Chase, a capable yet haunted young woman eager to contribute to the Union cause, accepts a mission from the Secretary of State, William Seward, to travel to Niagara Falls and prevent two rebel spies, John Yates Beall and Bennet Burley, from seizing the U.S.S. Michigan on Lake Erie and bombarding Buffalo, Cleveland, and other northern cities to sow fear and disorder ahead of the upcoming election. With actual events underpinning the tumultuous story in Rebel Falls, Wendell highlights the fact that the Civil War had far reaching impacts that many have forgotten. This character-driven narrative about a consequential struggle with the backdrop of Niagara Falls' is gripping from start to finish.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1192, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: The Century Of The Crime 1: Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to money laundering, fraud and a bunch of other stuff. the 21st century. 2: Charlotte Corday kills Marat, is not sad. the 18th century. 3: Lewis Payne causes William Seward pain, but even wounding the Secretary of State is not the biggest crime that day. the 19th century. 4: The Salem witch trials burn into history. the 17th century. 5: William Wallace is condemned as a traitor, though he said he never swore allegiance to Edward. the 14th century. Round 2. Category: January 1, 1993 1: These 2 countries came into existence. Slovakia and the Czech Republic. 2: This country knocked 3 zeros off its pesos. Mexico. 3: President Bush spent the day wishing happy new year to the U.S. troops in this country. Somalia. 4: This college team became No. 1 by defeating the Miami Hurricanes 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl. the University of Alabama. 5: Robert Eaton took over as this automaker's CEO. Chrysler. Round 3. Category: Of The Nile 1: The Nile runs through Cairo and this other national capital city. Khartoum, Sudan. 2: The first of the 10 Biblical plagues of Egypt occurred when the waters of the Nile were turned into this. blood. 3: The High Dam across the Nile at this city creates Lake Nasser, one of the largest reservoirs in the world. Aswan. 4: He was knighted in 1886 in part for his journeys in search of the source of the Nile. Sir Richard Burton. 5: There's no denial, Act III of this Verdi opera takes place on the banks of the Nile. Aida. Round 4. Category: Words Of The Year 1: dictionary.com:Xenophobia, meaning "fear of" these. foreigners (or strangers). 2: The Cambridge Dictionary picked this adjective meaning having delusions of persecution. paranoid. 3: Merriam-Webster:Not merely "real" but this word meaning weirdly unreal, like a dream. surreal. 4: Collins Dictionary:This word with a useful suffix to indicate leaving. Brexit. 5: Oxford:Post-truth, edging out this 4-letter adjective meaning alert to injustice. woke. Round 5. Category: 3 1: The 3-tiered crown of this personage stands for spiritual power, temporal power and ecclesiastical power. the pope. 2: Ned Nederlander, Dusty Bottoms and Lucky Day go up against El Guapo in this 1986 movie. ¡Three Amigos!. 3: This secretary in Ronald Reagan's cabinet shares his name with one of the 3 men in a tub. (James) Baker. 4: The 3 main classifications of these are active, dormant and extinct. volcanoes. 5: The 3 orders of these monks are the Friars Minor, the Poor Clares and the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. the Franciscans. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

It probably strange to think of a time when the security of the President of the United States wasn't a top priority. That time would be right around five days after the Civil War ended with the surrender of Robert E Lee and his confederate forces. It should have been a time of rebuilding and healing as a nation, but a man named John Wilkes Booth (you may have heard of him) took it upon himself (maybe?) to avenge the defeat of the south by killing the man who lead the Union to victory. The plot to kill Abraham Lincoln is much more complex than anything they taught us in grade school.  Lincoln was just the centerpiece of a plan to destabilize the government by killing multiple political figures all at the same time. Join us as we dive deep into the murder of The Man that Saved the Union.

There are many reasons why the Union won the American Civil War: the brilliance of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman as generals, the much larger population in the free states, and the industrial capacity of the North. But the number 1 reason the Union won was Abraham Lincoln. His governing style, his fantastic temperament, and his political genius tipped the balance.

April kicks off a little late for us, as the famous DC Cherry Blossoms have meant lots of tours and a very busy schedule. But fear not! To make up for it, we bring you an extra long episode as we take a deep dive on yet another Lincoln-adjacent person of great importance to the history of our nation: Secretary of State William Henry Seward.   Comments or Questions? Or have an idea for future episodes - #pitchtothepod? Email us https://tour-guide-tell-all.myshopify.com/ • Become a Patron for bonus episodes and early release: https://www.patreon.com/tourguidetellall     If you are looking for more information, we found these resources to be helpful: DC By Foot Lincoln Assassination Tour  Lincoln's Last Day Video Series Seward House Museum NPR - How Lincoln's Fiercest Rival Became His Closest Ally American Battlefield Trust - William Seward US Senate - Seward's “Higher Law” speech National Constitution Center - Remembering William Seward's Alaska “Folly” The Hill is Home - Olive Risley Seward   You're Listening To: Rebecca Fachner and Rebecca Grawl Admin/Advertising Extraordinaire: Canden Arciniega The Person Responsible for it Sounding Good: Dan King Intro/Outro Music: Well-Seasoned from Audio Hero

durée : 01:35:05 - Les Nuits de France Culture - par : Albane Penaranda - Quatre ans après la mort de l'écrivain William S. Burroughs, "Surpris par la nuit" proposait un voyage impressionniste dans l'œuvre de l'auteur du "Festin nu" en suivant les témoignages de proches, à l'écoute de ses obsessions, dévoilant ainsi un peu de ce que fut cet auteur majeur du 20e siècle.

* On the 150th Anniversary of the Proclamation, the Surprising Truth: With yesterday (January 1st, 2023) being the 160th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, we are going back to a broadcast classic where Bob Enyart and guest Jamie Schofield analyze the meaning and actual intent of that sad document. For this was no abolitionist policy (as a contemporaneous report in the Rocky Mountain News makes clear), but an example of moral compromise that ended in failure. Today's Resource: The Plot | Second Edition!The Bible Gets Easier to Understand: Apparent contradictions plague many Bible students. The Plot demonstrates how hundreds of such contradictions disappear when the reader applies the big picture of the Bible to its details. Tunnel vision focuses so narrowly on a problem that the solution often lies just out of view. As the pastor of Denver Bible Church, Bob Enyart teaches Christians how to use the whole counsel of God to understand the plot of the Bible and solve biblical mysteries. (Missionaries in Costa Rica effectively use the Spanish translation, La Trama.) Available as either book or PDF download. The Plot: 2nd Edition Just before his passing, Bob finished the second edition of his manuscript, The Plot. While sadly he didn't live long enough to see the work published, He did get it out just in time. His second edition includes ten years worth of updates, revisions, additional sections and updated graphics. Now, a year after his passing, it has been made available to the public! Get your copy now... The Proclamation was actually comprised of two announcements, not just one.  The first half – the preliminary proclamation – set the policy and gave a deadline of 100 days.  It was addressed not to the common citizens of the nation or to the Union military, but rather to the states in rebellion at that time.  What was Lincoln's declared policy on slavery at that time?  He made that very clear in a letter to Horace Greeley on Aug. 22, 1862, just days before the issuance of the preliminary proclamation: If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. . . . I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Lincoln's goal was not the abolition of slavery but rather the preservation of the Union, and if that meant keeping slaves in bondage everywhere, he would support and practice exactly that.  And this non-abolitionist stance is reflected in the text of the Emancipation Proclamation.The Preliminary Proclamation, September, 1862 In short, the stated intent and purpose of this policy was to offer the Confederate states the opportunity to keep their slaves if they would choose to stop rebelling within a 100-day deadline.  Essentially, it said that if your state ceases its rebellion against the union, you may keep your slaves. I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States... That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; Any state still in rebellion against the Union on Jan. 1 would be subject to the Proclamation, which would declare any current slaves in those areas to be free.  The stated goal was not to free any slaves, but rather to preserve the Union.  Was it a success?  Before hearing the answer, Bob predicted that such a policy would bear no fruit, and he was right.  In fact, not a single state took Lincoln up on his offer.  By its own standard, the Proclamation was an abject failure!  In fact, all the proclamation did in that regard was to infuriate the Confederate states more than ever, deepening their resolve to reject the Union. Perhaps even worse, the preliminary proclamation also explicitly ordered slaves to be returned to their slave owners in specific circumstances, thus actually ordering the enforcement of keeping such men in bondage: Sec.10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; In other words, if a slave escaped to an area controlled by the Union, all a Southern slave owner had to do was show up, give an oath (no evidence required) that he was the lawful owner of that slave, and swear that he had never taken up arms against the Union, and then “here's your slave back.” The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 This document was the culmination of the policy already given 100 days earlier.  Not a single Confederate state had taken Lincoln's offer to cease rebellion and keep their slaves.  Therefore, this document declared (largely symbolically) the slaves in those non-Union-controlled areas to be free.  But, at the same time, and as one should expect in such a compromised and non-abolitionist policy, it also explicitly listed all of the areas in the U.S. where slaves would be kept in bondage.  Thus, this policy actually authorized the continuing wicked enslavement of innocent men, women and children, for example in many counties in Louisiana, especially around New Orleans, as well as in the newly-forming West Virginia. Many abolitionists of the day decried the Emancipation Proclamation, rightly pointing out its moral compromise.  Lincoln's own secretary of state, William Seward, commented that "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free."  Unlike Lincoln, Seward knew the atrocities of slavery firsthand, having been raised by a slave-owning family.  "I early came to the conclusion that something was wrong... and [that] determined me to be an abolitionist." On the other hand, in their coverage of the Proclamation, the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News here in Colorado celebrated on their front page the fact that this policy was not abolitionist, and mocked abolitionists who disagreed with it, praising Lincoln for going against the “radical” abolitionists.  The newspaper wrote: “The last mail... brought scores of Eastern and Western papers with similar recommendations.  The voice of the press is almost unanimous in its approval.  That is a pretty correct index of popular opinion, and we may therefore set down that almost the entire loyal States endorse the action of the President.  It must be expected that the ultra Abolitionists will kick against it, as too conservative [not going far enough] for their radical views.  Let them squirm!  ‘Honest Abe' has shown that he will be no tool of theirs.” How were slaves freed and slavery abolished, then? It's important to note that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't outlaw slavery anywhere.  It declared current slaves in those areas to be free, in areas where the Union had no control.  It essentially “freed” them in word only, and was largely a symbolic gesture.  As the Union military moved through the Confederate states in rebellion, they did free slaves they encountered.  In truth, they could have done this with or without the Proclamation.  The Proclamation was simply used as an excuse to do it, but they would have been right to do it, regardless.  Lincoln gave orders to the Union Army to free those slaves, apart from the Proclamation, which wasn't addressed to the Union Army, but to the Confederate States themselves.  He could have ordered the Union Army to do this without such a proclamation.  And even if Lincoln hadn't issued that order, it would have still been right for Union forces moving through the South to free those slaves, anyway.  If you are a military unit and have taken over an area from the enemy, and you find men who have been kidnapped and brutalized by the people there, the right thing to do would be to free those victims.  The Proclamation didn't free anyone, although it did serve as a political excuse to do so. What of the abolition of slavery, then?  That was accomplished later, in some areas at the state level, and in the rest of the nation through federal action.  Unlike in the Emancipation Proclamation, in all of these cases it was a principled, no-compromise, abolitionist policy that required the complete abolition of slavery in each state.  For example, West Virginia (which had ironically seceded from Virginia while the latter was seceding from the Union) wasn't allowed to join the Union as a new state unless their constitution abolished slavery without exception.  In Maryland, Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864, they abolished slavery at the state level as their citizens ratified new state constitutions.  In Missouri in January of 1865, that governor abolished slavery via executive order.  In all other Southern states, slavery was ultimately abolished through the ratification of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in December of 1865. In all of these cases, it was a no-compromise policy that we would describe today as “pro-personhood.”  Slavery was ultimately abolished despite the pro-slavery policy of the Emancipation Proclamation, not because of it.

HOUR 1Tom & Tom talk Denver Bronco's lossUber Eats will deliver cannabis in Canada / (MB) https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/uber-eats-will-now-deliver-weed-to-toronto-residents?The size of robots is growing steadily at over 3.5 million / (WSJ) https://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-army-of-robots-coming-to-fill-in-for-scarce-workers-11665806451?William Seward gets the purchase of Alaska through the U.S. Senate back in Oct 18, 1967 Russia unleashing suicide drones on Ukraine / (BBC) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63280523?U.K. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt used his first Monday on the job to announce that almost all of the controversial tax measures announced by his predecessor would be reversed / (CNBC) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/17/uks-new-finance-minister-sets-out-.html?Rick Whitbeck from Power the Future overviewing his interviews with Alaska's congressional candidates / (PTF) https://powerthefuture.com/akec/ HOUR 2Two watchdog organizations have filed another complaint against the Republican Governors Association and an independent expenditure group supporting Republican incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy's re-election / (ADN) https://www.adn.com/politics/2022/10/17/groups-say-pro-dunleavy-organization-is-smoke-and-mirrors-after-commission-delays-decision-on-campaign-finance-complaint/Jim Minnery on the Constitutional Convention and why he supports it Alaska Airline pilots agree to a 3-year contract / (ADN) https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/aviation/2022/10/17/alaska-airlines-pilots-approve-new-agreement-on-wages-schedules/Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced new legislation increasing sentences for convicted drug dealers at a press conference on Monday / (ANS) https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/10/18/legislation-increase-charges-drug-dealers-introduced/Tom & Tom talk cartels and wonder why governments don't take out cartels

More than a century after these events unfolded, there continues to be debate among historians as to whether or not Mary Surratt was or was not involved in the plot to assassinate U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. What we know for sure, though, is Mary was hanged for treason in the summer of 1865.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Following Jesus Worth the Cost? Today, Pastor Michael is discussing Seward's Folly, the purchase of Alaska coordinated by William Seward.  Many felt it wasn't worth the cost, but William Seward felt it would be an asset for America.  Today only a few states have more millionaires per capita than Alaska, a treasure trove of natural resources. Many felt it was not worth the cost. The cost of following Jesus.  Be sure, there is a cost to follow Jesus. Is following Jesus worth the cost? In Mark, we find John is in prison.  John is in prison for doing what was ‘right'.  King Herod would send for John to talk spiritual things, however he got upset with John when Herod confided to John that he had stolen his brother's wife.  And John confronted him about that.  So what did Herod do?  He put John in prison.  So John paid a price for following Jesus.  Yet he never complained about that.  John understood the story wasn't about him.  He sent a messenger to Jesus and wondered, did he do the right thing?  He became imprisoned over it.  The messenger told John of the miracles that Jesus was performing and lives were being changed by the Gospel. John knew then he had made the right decision.  Perhaps it's time for us to step out of the way and let someone else to shine.  Or maybe YOU step up and prepare for the ministry God has prepared you for.  We are afraid to reach for the things God has set aside for us.   The cost can be high but so worth it! Verses can be found today in Mark: 1: 14-20. Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Programa 02x172. En William sembla un altre dels escriptors americans de la generaci

Rusia fue el primer país europeo en poner pie en Alaska. Los primeros grupos, protagonizadas por cazadores, llegaron a principios del siglo XVIII, y pocas décadas después llegaban las primeras expediciones de comerciantes de pieles, que ya se asentaron en la región, y comenzaron la colonización, que se culminó a finales de siglo.La relación inicial con los nativos era cordial. De hecho, a ellos les compraban la piel de nutria, quizá la más preciosa de las joyas que ofrecía el territorio en aquel momento. Con el paso del tiempo las cosas se fueron complicando, sobre todo por el abuso de la caza de nutrias, que acabó exterminando al animal en muchas zonas; junto con algunos problemas de convivencia que no supieron resolver, y que acabaron derivando en enfrentamientos armados, expulsión de los nativos, división de familias, esclavitud... y muchos muertos entre los locales. Tampoco ayudó el asesino silencioso que acompañaba a los rusos: las enfermedades europeas, desconocidas en la región, y contra las que los locales no estaban inmunizados. El 80% de la población aleutiana, por ejemplo, falleció por este motivo.Por aquella época llegaron también misioneros y clérigos de religión ortodoxa, que continuó a lo largo del siglo XIX, y que es responsable de la huellas rusas más visibles en la Alaska contemporánea.Por aquella época, los españoles también pusieron sus ojos en Alaska, haciendo referencia a la bula papal de 1493 que Alejandro VI otorgó a Isabel y Fernando. Durante décadas enviaron varias expediciones navales, algunas de las cuales incluso llegarón a entrar en contacto con los rusos. La más atrevida fue la de Bruno de Heceta, que en 1775 trató de consolidar las reclamaciones españolas en el Pacífico Norte. Uno de sus barcos, el Sonora, entró en la isla de Nutka, y reclamó formalmente la región como parte de España.Ese movimiento acabó derivando en 1789 en la crisis de Nutka, que a punto estuvo de provocar una guerra entre España y Reino Unido, después de que varios barcos británicos entraran en aguas reclamadas por España, , por lo que fueron capturados por la Armada. Londres exigió una compensación, y Madrid se negó. Llegaron a prepararse para el enfrentamiento bélico, e incluso reclamaron la ayuda de sus respectivos aliados.Sin embargo, la sangre no llegó al río, y se resolvió pacíficamente en la Convención de Nutka, en un acuerdo que supuso una gran victoria comercial para Reino Unido, y que supuso el inicio de su dominio sobre el Pacífico. Pero volviendo a Alaska y a los rusos, el cambio de siglo no le sentó nada bien. A pesar de algunas victorias militares, los clanes locales nunca dejaron de hacerles la guerra. Y los esfuerzos que hicieron nunca fueron suficientes para colonizar la región por completo. De hecho, la población rusa nunca llegó a superar las 700 personas en su momento álgido. A pesar de las riquezas del territorio, donde ya sabían que además había oro, lo caro, complicados y peligrosos que eran los viajes, no llegaron a convencer a más rusos para que se trasladasen.A eso hay que sumarle que la Compañía de la Bahía de Hudson, canadiense, se estableció en la frontera sur, y nunca llegó a respetar las limitaciones establecidas, castigando el monopolio ruso de del comercio de la región. Entre unas cosas y otras, el control de los rusos sobre Alaska se fue debilitando cada vez más.Llegamos así a mediados del siglo XIX, en el que Rusia se encuentra en una difícil situación financiera. Está metida en la guerra de Crimea, que le está obligadando a hacer importantes esfuerzos de guerra, y no puede prestar atención a lo que pasa en Alaska. Los más allegados al zar empiezan a deslizar la idea de que lo mejor es abandonar la región, que Estados Unidos quiere conquistar todo el continente, y que les podría quitar las tierras fácilmente, sin obtener nada a cambio. Plantean la opción de venderla, y Alejandro II decide que es una decisión que merece la pena estudiar.Las conversaciones comenzaron en la década del siglo XIX, pero la Guerra de Secesión frenó las negociaciones. Tras el final del conflicto, se retomaron las negociaciones, que alcanzaron su punto álgido en marzo de 1867, cuando el Zar envía a su ministro en Estados Unidos a negociar con William Seward, el secretario de Estado. En tan solo unas semanas, cierran el acuerdo: Estados Unidos pagaría 7,2 millones de dólares por Alaska.El precio, que equivaldría a unos 130 millones de dólares actuales, menos de lo que cuesta fichar a un futbolista estrella, era económico incluso para los estándares de la época.La bandera de Estados Unidos fue alzada el 18 de octubre de 1867, y ante la necesidad de cambiar del calendario juliano al gregoriano, junto con el cambio de uso horario, provocó que los residentes tuvieran dos viernes seguidos: pasaron del viernes 6 de octubre al viernes 18 de octubre.A pesar de que Estados Unidos estaba en pleno proceso expansionista, y llegó a acuerdos similares para hacerse con otras regiones, como Luisiana o Florida, había muchas dudas entre los ciudadanos, que consideraban que era un "paraje helado". De hecho, parte de la prensa atacaba al acuerdo, denominándolo la 'Locura de Seward', 'La nevera de Seward' o 'El jardín del oso polar de Andrew Johnson'.Pero las voces en contra quedaron acalladas rápidamente. Pese a las décadas de dominio ruso, era una tierra prácticamente sin explorar. Durante los primeros años tras el acuerdo, con los políticos de Washington más preocupados de la reconstrucción del país tras la Guerra que del nuevo territorio que habían comprado, fueron los militares y exploradores los que empezaron a recorrer la región, pintar los primeros mapas del río Yukón, y estableciendo puestos de operaciones a lo largo de los numerosos ríos interiores.Y en 1896 se produce el acontecimiento que lo cambiaría todo. En el territorio de Yukón en Canadá encuentran oro. Miles de mineros, acompañados de nuevos pobladores, deciden irse a Alaska, a comprobar si allí también lo encuentran. Esas miles de personas exigen infraestructuras y servicios, lo que supone un gran impulso para la región.Tan solo tres años después los exploradores encuentran oro en Nome y otros pueblos, lo que se conoció como 'la fiebre del oro de Klondike', y que supuso el impulso definitivo para Alaska.El cambio de siglo supuso el salto económico para la región, con la construcción de nuevos centros urbanos para acoger a toda la gente que estaba llegando. Empiezan a hacerse populares las industrias de la minería de cobre, la pesca y el enlatado. Hay ciudades que ya cuentan con hasta diez fábricas de conservas. Los estadounidenses también se expandieron hacia el interior y el Ártico de Alaska, explotando la piel de los animales, el pescado y otros negocios de los que dependían los nativos. En los primeros 50 años de propiedad los americanos ya habían ganado 100 veces más que lo que inviertieron en la compra.La II Guerra Mundial y los comienzos de la Guerra Fría reflejó además la importancia estratégica y geopolítica de la región. Aumenta la presencia militar, y en 1959 el territorio se incorpora como Estado de los Estados Unidos.En la misma época se descubren yacimientos petrolíferos, que suponen un nuevo impulso para la región, y que se ha ido consolidando como la principal fuente de ingresos. En los 70 construyeron un oleoducto de 8.000 millones que le unía al resto del país. Generó ingresos per cápita tan altos que repercutieron en toda la población. Para evitar que la fiebre del petróleo acabse tan mal como la de la piel de nutria, cuyas mejoras económicas dejaron de notarse tan pronto como se acabaron los recursos, el Estado creó el Fondo Permanente de Alaska, un fideicomiso con el que invierten una cuarta parte de todos los ingresos minerales.El resultado fue un éxito. En medio siglo ha pasado de controlar 734.000 dólares, que es con lo que nació en 1976, a más de 82.000 millones en la actualidad. Además, desde 1982 abona un dividendo anual a cada ciudadano que resida al menos 6 meses en Alaska, una suerte de renta básica, por el que entregan unos 2.000 dólares per cápita al año. Ha generado más dinero que el petróleo.Hoy en día Alaska cuenta con una población de unas 700.000 personas. El 15% de la población es nativa. Y lo único que queda ruso son algunos edificios y la fuerte presencia de la iglesia ortodoxa

A story of William Seward, a man wing to endure his critics for a greater goal

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 393, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Andrew Johnson 1: Andrew Johnson succeeded this man as president, having served as his vice president for only 6 weeks. Abraham Lincoln. 2: Johnson was the first president to whom the House of Representatives did this; the Senate acquitted him in May 1868. impeached. 3: With no formal education, Andrew didn't learn these 3 often-linked basic skills until he was a teenager. reading, writing and arithmetic. 4: A senator from this state, Andrew Johnson was the only Southern senator who refused to secede with his state. Tennessee. 5: Johnson's secretary of state, he negotiated the purchase of Alaska for a cool $7.2 million. William Seward. Round 2. Category: Crossword Clues "D" 1: Bram Stoker novel you can "count" on(7). Dracula. 2: Samson's locks-smith(7). Delilah. 3: Greek gelt(8). drachmas. 4: Perry Mason's Street(5). Della. 5: "American Tragedian" Theodore(7). Dreiser. Round 3. Category: Silk 1: Silkworms spin their cocoons by moving their heads in this numerical pattern figure skaters make on ice. a figure eight. 2: Before World War II, the biggest use for silk in the U.S. was to manufacture these for women. stockings. 3: During World War II, silk was used to make the canopies of these; today they're usually made of nylon. parachutes. 4: One silkworm is the larva of the Bombyx mori moth; "mori" comes from Morus multicalus, the scientific name of this tree. the mulberry tree. 5: In the 500s A.D. this Byzantine emperor known for his code sent 2 monks to China to learn the secret of silk. Justinian. Round 4. Category: Major Musical Works 1: Opus 51 of this man portrayed in the movie "Impromptu" is an impromptu in G flat major. Chopin. 2: This first season of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" is in E major. "Spring". 3: Tchaikovsky called this work of his in E flat major "loud and noisy", and he never even heard it with fireworks. "The 1812 Overture". 4: "Scene by the brook" is the title of one movement of this Beethoven symphony in F major. the 6th symphony. 5: Bach to Bach works, Nos. 3 and 4 in this group of 6 concertos, are in G major. the Brandenberg Concertos. Round 5. Category: Elizabeth Taylor 1: When asked what she wanted on her tombstone, she replied, "Here lies Elizabeth. She hated to be called" this. Liz. 2: This man married her in Montreal and then again in Botswana. Richard Burton. 3: Elizabeth Taylor was the first star to earn a million dollars for a film, for this 1963 title role. Cleopatra. 4: On January 15, 2001 this man who has been married 7 times interviewed Ms. Taylor on TV. Larry King. 5: On New Year's Eve 1999, Queen Elizabeth awarded her this title. Dame. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

durée : 01:35:05 - Les Nuits de France Culture - Par Patrick Amine - Avec Christian Bourgois, Michel Braudeau, Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Bouvet, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Jacques Donguy, Denis Roche, Philippe Sollers, Michel Bulteau, Bernard Heidsieck, Gérard-Georges Lemaire, Jean-Jacques Schuhl et Bernard Rancillac - Avec la voix de William Seward Burroughs - Réalisation Jacques Taroni

======================================== ==SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1======================================== == DEVOCIÓN MATUTINA PARA ADOLESCENTES 2022“UN SALTO EN EL TIEMPO”Narrado por: DORIANY SÁNCHEZDesde: PERÚUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist Church  03 DE ENEROLA LOCURA DE SEWARD«No te dejes impresionar por su apariencia ni por su estatura, pues yo lo he rechazado. La gente se fija en las apariencias, pero yo me fijo en el corazón »(1 Samuel 16: 7, NVI).¿Sabías que Alaska tuvo una vez el apodo despectivo «La locura de Seward»? William Seward era el secretario de estado de los Estados Unidos, y fue quien decidió comprar el territorio de Alaska al Imperio ruso en 1867. Los detalles de cómo Estados Unidos adquirió este estado son realmente interesantes.En aquella época, la mayoría de la gente pensaba que Alaska no valía el dinero que se pagó por ella, aunque seward solo desembolsó unos dos centavos por acre. Los periodistas de la época llamaban al territorio «Icebergia», «Polaria» y «La nevera de Seward». Y durante décadas esa fue la opinión de la mayoría de la gente.El 3 de enero de 1959, Alaska pasó a formar parte de los Estados Unidos como el cuadragésimo noveno estado, y ahora sabemos lo increíblemente afortunada que fue esa decisión. Con un total de casi un millón y medio de kilómetros cuadrados y más de 40,500 hectáreas [100,000 acres] de zonas silvestres reservadas como parques federales y estatales, Alaska es el estado más grande y ha provisto miles de millones de dólares de ganancia gracias a su oro, al petróleo, a la pesca y la madera. ¡Resulta que Seward sabía lo que hacía!El profeta Samuel se enfrentó a una gran decisión un poco parecida a la de Seward. Sigámoslo por el polvoriento camino de Belén, por donde se dirige a elegir a un nuevo rey de Israel. Dios le había dicho que un hombre llamado Isaí tenía un hijo que sería el siguiente en sentarse en el trono de la nación. Suena bastante fácil, ¿verdad? Pero Samuel se habrá reído when llegó a la finca de Isaí para la ceremonia de selección y descubrió que este tenía más de un hijo. De hecho, ¡tenía toda una línea de hijos! Muy gracioso, Señor, me imagino a Samuel pensando.Al inspeccionar la fila de jóvenes, Samuel pensó que todos y cada uno de ellos podía ser el indicado. Eran altos, fuertes y con cara de inteligentes. Pero el Señor le decía a Samuel: «No, este no es el que quiero». Finalmente, Samuel preguntó si Isaí tenía más hijos que los allí presentes. Isaí se aclaró la garganta y murmuró: «Pues tengo uno más que se llama David», ante un coro de risas de los hermanos. Cuando Samuel eligió a ese adolescente, casi seguro que todos pensaron que aquella era «la locura de Samuel».Como sabemos ahora, David se convirtió en el rey más popular y productivo de Israel. Resulta que Dios sabía lo que estaba haciendo.

* On the 150th Anniversary of the Proclamation, the Surprising Truth: With tomorrow (January 1st, 2022) being the 159th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Bob Enyart and guest Jamie Schofield analyze the meaning and actual intent of that sad document. For this was no abolitionist policy (as a contemporaneous report in the Rocky Mountain News makes clear), but an example of moral compromise that ended in failure. The Proclamation was actually comprised of two announcements, not just one.  The first half – the preliminary proclamation – set the policy and gave a deadline of 100 days.  It was addressed not to the common citizens of the nation or to the Union military, but rather to the states in rebellion at that time.  What was Lincoln's declared policy on slavery at that time?  He made that very clear in a letter to Horace Greeley on Aug. 22, 1862, just days before the issuance of the preliminary proclamation: If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. . . . I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Lincoln's goal was not the abolition of slavery but rather the preservation of the Union, and if that meant keeping slaves in bondage everywhere, he would support and practice exactly that.  And this non-abolitionist stance is reflected in the text of the Emancipation Proclamation.The Preliminary Proclamation, September, 1862 In short, the stated intent and purpose of this policy was to offer the Confederate states the opportunity to keep their slaves if they would choose to stop rebelling within a 100-day deadline.  Essentially, it said that if your state ceases its rebellion against the union, you may keep your slaves. I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States... That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; Any state still in rebellion against the Union on Jan. 1 would be subject to the Proclamation, which would declare any current slaves in those areas to be free.  The stated goal was not to free any slaves, but rather to preserve the Union.  Was it a success?  Before hearing the answer, Bob predicted that such a policy would bear no fruit, and he was right.  In fact, not a single state took Lincoln up on his offer.  By its own standard, the Proclamation was an abject failure!  In fact, all the proclamation did in that regard was to infuriate the Confederate states more than ever, deepening their resolve to reject the Union. Perhaps even worse, the preliminary proclamation also explicitly ordered slaves to be returned to their slave owners in specific circumstances, thus actually ordering the enforcement of keeping such men in bondage: Sec.10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; In other words, if a slave escaped to an area controlled by the Union, all a Southern slave owner had to do was show up, give an oath (no evidence required) that he was the lawful owner of that slave, and swear that he had never taken up arms against the Union, and then “here's your slave back.” The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 This document was the culmination of the policy already given 100 days earlier.  Not a single Confederate state had taken Lincoln's offer to cease rebellion and keep their slaves.  Therefore, this document declared (largely symbolically) the slaves in those non-Union-controlled areas to be free.  But, at the same time, and as one should expect in such a compromised and non-abolitionist policy, it also explicitly listed all of the areas in the U.S. where slaves would be kept in bondage.  Thus, this policy actually authorized the continuing wicked enslavement of innocent men, women and children, for example in many counties in Louisiana, especially around New Orleans, as well as in the newly-forming West Virginia. Many abolitionists of the day decried the Emancipation Proclamation, rightly pointing out its moral compromise.  Lincoln's own secretary of state, William Seward, commented that "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free."  Unlike Lincoln, Seward knew the atrocities of slavery firsthand, having been raised by a slave-owning family.  "I early came to the conclusion that something was wrong... and [that] determined me to be an abolitionist." On the other hand, in their coverage of the Proclamation, the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News here in Colorado celebrated on their front page the fact that this policy was not abolitionist, and mocked abolitionists who disagreed with it, praising Lincoln for going against the “radical” abolitionists.  The newspaper wrote: “The last mail... brought scores of Eastern and Western papers with similar recommendations.  The voice of the press is almost unanimous in its approval.  That is a pretty correct index of popular opinion, and we may therefore set down that almost the entire loyal States endorse the action of the President.  It must be expected that the ultra Abolitionists will kick against it, as too conservative [not going far enough] for their radical views.  Let them squirm!  ‘Honest Abe' has shown that he will be no tool of theirs.” How were slaves freed and slavery abolished, then? It's important to note that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't outlaw slavery anywhere.  It declared current slaves in those areas to be free, in areas where the Union had no control.  It essentially “freed” them in word only, and was largely a symbolic gesture.  As the Union military moved through the Confederate states in rebellion, they did free slaves they encountered.  In truth, they could have done this with or without the Proclamation.  The Proclamation was simply used as an excuse to do it, but they would have been right to do it, regardless.  Lincoln gave orders to the Union Army to free those slaves, apart from the Proclamation, which wasn't addressed to the Union Army, but to the Confederate States themselves.  He could have ordered the Union Army to do this without such a proclamation.  And even if Lincoln hadn't issued that order, it would have still been right for Union forces moving through the South to free those slaves, anyway.  If you are a military unit and have taken over an area from the enemy, and you find men who have been kidnapped and brutalized by the people there, the right thing to do would be to free those victims.  The Proclamation didn't free anyone, although it did serve as a political excuse to do so. What of the abolition of slavery, then?  That was accomplished later, in some areas at the state level, and in the rest of the nation through federal action.  Unlike in the Emancipation Proclamation, in all of these cases it was a principled, no-compromise, abolitionist policy that required the complete abolition of slavery in each state.  For example, West Virginia (which had ironically seceded from Virginia while the latter was seceding from the Union) wasn't allowed to join the Union as a new state unless their constitution abolished slavery without exception.  In Maryland, Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864, they abolished slavery at the state level as their citizens ratified new state constitutions.  In Missouri in January of 1865, that governor abolished slavery via executive order.  In all other Southern states, slavery was ultimately abolished through the ratification of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in December of 1865. In all of these cases, it was a no-compromise policy that we would describe today as “pro-personhood.”  Slavery was ultimately abolished despite the pro-slavery policy of the Emancipation Proclamation, not because of it. Today's Resource: Have you seen the Government Department at our KGOV Store? We are featuring Bruce Shortt's vitally-important book, The Harsh Truth about Public Schools. And also, check out the classic God's Criminal Justice System seminar, God and the Death Penalty, Live from Las Vegas, and Bob on Drugs DVDs, and our powerhouse Focus on the Strategy resources!

* On the 150th Anniversary of the Proclamation, the Surprising Truth: With tomorrow (January 1st, 2022) being the 159th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Bob Enyart and guest Jamie Schofield analyze the meaning and actual intent of that sad document. For this was no abolitionist policy (as a contemporaneous report in the Rocky Mountain News makes clear), but an example of moral compromise that ended in failure. The Proclamation was actually comprised of two announcements, not just one.  The first half – the preliminary proclamation – set the policy and gave a deadline of 100 days.  It was addressed not to the common citizens of the nation or to the Union military, but rather to the states in rebellion at that time.  What was Lincoln's declared policy on slavery at that time?  He made that very clear in a letter to Horace Greeley on Aug. 22, 1862, just days before the issuance of the preliminary proclamation: If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. . . . I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Lincoln's goal was not the abolition of slavery but rather the preservation of the Union, and if that meant keeping slaves in bondage everywhere, he would support and practice exactly that.  And this non-abolitionist stance is reflected in the text of the Emancipation Proclamation.The Preliminary Proclamation, September, 1862 In short, the stated intent and purpose of this policy was to offer the Confederate states the opportunity to keep their slaves if they would choose to stop rebelling within a 100-day deadline.  Essentially, it said that if your state ceases its rebellion against the union, you may keep your slaves. I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States... That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; Any state still in rebellion against the Union on Jan. 1 would be subject to the Proclamation, which would declare any current slaves in those areas to be free.  The stated goal was not to free any slaves, but rather to preserve the Union.  Was it a success?  Before hearing the answer, Bob predicted that such a policy would bear no fruit, and he was right.  In fact, not a single state took Lincoln up on his offer.  By its own standard, the Proclamation was an abject failure!  In fact, all the proclamation did in that regard was to infuriate the Confederate states more than ever, deepening their resolve to reject the Union. Perhaps even worse, the preliminary proclamation also explicitly ordered slaves to be returned to their slave owners in specific circumstances, thus actually ordering the enforcement of keeping such men in bondage: Sec.10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; In other words, if a slave escaped to an area controlled by the Union, all a Southern slave owner had to do was show up, give an oath (no evidence required) that he was the lawful owner of that slave, and swear that he had never taken up arms against the Union, and then “here's your slave back.” The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 This document was the culmination of the policy already given 100 days earlier.  Not a single Confederate state had taken Lincoln's offer to cease rebellion and keep their slaves.  Therefore, this document declared (largely symbolically) the slaves in those non-Union-controlled areas to be free.  But, at the same time, and as one should expect in such a compromised and non-abolitionist policy, it also explicitly listed all of the areas in the U.S. where slaves would be kept in bondage.  Thus, this policy actually authorized the continuing wicked enslavement of innocent men, women and children, for example in many counties in Louisiana, especially around New Orleans, as well as in the newly-forming West Virginia. Many abolitionists of the day decried the Emancipation Proclamation, rightly pointing out its moral compromise.  Lincoln's own secretary of state, William Seward, commented that "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free."  Unlike Lincoln, Seward knew the atrocities of slavery firsthand, having been raised by a slave-owning family.  "I early came to the conclusion that something was wrong... and [that] determined me to be an abolitionist." On the other hand, in their coverage of the Proclamation, the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News here in Colorado celebrated on their front page the fact that this policy was not abolitionist, and mocked abolitionists who disagreed with it, praising Lincoln for going against the “radical” abolitionists.  The newspaper wrote: “The last mail... brought scores of Eastern and Western papers with similar recommendations.  The voice of the press is almost unanimous in its approval.  That is a pretty correct index of popular opinion, and we may therefore set down that almost the entire loyal States endorse the action of the President.  It must be expected that the ultra Abolitionists will kick against it, as too conservative [not going far enough] for their radical views.  Let them squirm!  ‘Honest Abe' has shown that he will be no tool of theirs.” How were slaves freed and slavery abolished, then? It's important to note that the Emancipation Proclamation didn't outlaw slavery anywhere.  It declared current slaves in those areas to be free, in areas where the Union had no control.  It essentially “freed” them in word only, and was largely a symbolic gesture.  As the Union military moved through the Confederate states in rebellion, they did free slaves they encountered.  In truth, they could have done this with or without the Proclamation.  The Proclamation was simply used as an excuse to do it, but they would have been right to do it, regardless.  Lincoln gave orders to the Union Army to free those slaves, apart from the Proclamation, which wasn't addressed to the Union Army, but to the Confederate States themselves.  He could have ordered the Union Army to do this without such a proclamation.  And even if Lincoln hadn't issued that order, it would have still been right for Union forces moving through the South to free those slaves, anyway.  If you are a military unit and have taken over an area from the enemy, and you find men who have been kidnapped and brutalized by the people there, the right thing to do would be to free those victims.  The Proclamation didn't free anyone, although it did serve as a political excuse to do so. What of the abolition of slavery, then?  That was accomplished later, in some areas at the state level, and in the rest of the nation through federal action.  Unlike in the Emancipation Proclamation, in all of these cases it was a principled, no-compromise, abolitionist policy that required the complete abolition of slavery in each state.  For example, West Virginia (which had ironically seceded from Virginia while the latter was seceding from the Union) wasn't allowed to join the Union as a new state unless their constitution abolished slavery without exception.  In Maryland, Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864, they abolished slavery at the state level as their citizens ratified new state constitutions.  In Missouri in January of 1865, that governor abolished slavery via executive order.  In all other Southern states, slavery was ultimately abolished through the ratification of the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in December of 1865. In all of these cases, it was a no-compromise policy that we would describe today as “pro-personhood.”  Slavery was ultimately abolished despite the pro-slavery policy of the Emancipation Proclamation, not because of it. Today's Resource: Have you seen the Government Department at our KGOV Store? We are featuring Bruce Shortt's vitally-important book, The Harsh Truth about Public Schools. And also, check out the classic God's Criminal Justice System seminar, God and the Death Penalty, Live from Las Vegas, and Bob on Drugs DVDs, and our powerhouse Focus on the Strategy resources!

William Seward was Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State and survived an assassination attempt on the same night Lincoln was killed.

Please open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 5:8-20. Hear now, the word of the Lord from Ecclesiastes chapter five, starting in verse eight. 8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields. 10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. 13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger. 18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. Ecclesiastes 5:8-20, ESV The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Well, on May 18th, 1860, it's about one hundred and fifty years ago, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, the very young Republican Party was gathering for a presidential primary election for that year. Far and away the expected winner that year was Senator William Seward from New York. He was widely expected to win the presidential election for the party that year. On the first ballot, it reflected that fact. He received one hundred seventy three and a half of the electoral votes. He almost doubled the number of votes that were received by the runner up. The runner up only received 102. So those top two candidates received more than the majority of votes because there was 466 delegates. But one hundred and seventy three was not a majority in itself. And so there had to be a reballot and the favorite then had to go up again against all of these other candidates who were competing for his elections. Well, you've probably heard the name of the man who was second place on that first ballot. His name was Abraham Lincoln. As his biographer tells the story, Lincoln's strategy was quite interesting. His goal was not to win the election outright on the first ballot because he knew if he had to do that, if he was going up directly against all the challengers who were vying for the presidential nomination that year from the party that he wouldn't win. In fact, he would burn a lot of bridges along the way by having to go against these other candidates. His strategy was not to win the election outright. His strategy was to be everyone's second choice. Now that requires a lot of humility, not to want to go and be the best, but it was a very wise and cunning political calculation. Because in the second ballot, when everyone who didn't want Senator William H. Seward from New York to be the presidential nominee for the party saw that he had far and away the most votes of that presidential nomination cycle. On the second ballot, many of the votes shifted to Lincoln. Lincoln went from 102 votes to 181 votes on the next ballot. Then the third ballot, he received 231.5. Until a number of people finally switched their votes to fall behind Lincoln, winning 349 out of the 466 electoral votes, winning the nomination and eventually the presidency. Now there's a really interesting paradox here. I mean, think about this. Lincoln's strategy to win the presidential nomination was to try not to win the presidential nomination. He was trying to win it and his strategy for winning it was to try not to win it outright, because he knew that was a strategy that he couldn't win, that he couldn't pull off. Again, it's a very difficult thing to do. It requires a lot of humility not to just go for something. Indeed, if we have our eyes on a prize in life, the very natural temptation is to go directly for it, to try to take hold of it right away. But in life, the Bible says that what we want we cannot pursue directly. If we want to gain the things that we want, we cannot walk by sight. We must instead walk by faith. We can't go straight after the satisfaction that we see in front of us with our eyes, the things that by all outward appearances we believe will satisfy us. Instead, we must walk by faith, trusting that the promises of God will provide to us the enduring, lasting joy and satisfaction that our hearts so desperately crave. Well, the problem is from God's word that we are considering together today is our big idea that God provides paradoxical joy. Joy that we don't go after directly and try to take it by the horns on its own. But joy that we seek by trusting and depending upon God's promises, by faith. So the three points this morning, 1. Public Injustice 2. Painful Wealth 3. Paradoxical Joy. Public Injustice Well, the first section marked the first two verses where we see public injustice. Now versus eight and nine of chapter five are both very difficult to translate, we'll talk a little bit about that. But the general idea is very clear in both cases. The preacher is talking about breakdowns in public life. And so first, he talks about breakdowns in public justice. So in Ecclesiastes 5:8, he writes, "If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them." Now again, this is a little bit difficult to translate, but the basic sense is clear. When you see injustice, when you see oppressions, don't be surprised by that. Don't be amazed by that. Don't be vexed by this. Why? Because corruption will be a fixture of life in this broken, sinful world. It will be the norm. It will not be the exception. Now, the preacher points to something that maybe helps to some degree with this. He points to the high officials overseeing the corruption and the higher officials overseeing the officials over the corruption and the still higher officials overseeing everyone. He says it's good and right for there to be accountability, for there to be oversight. It's necessary for there to be in light of the corruption that's so prevalent in this world. But he's also saying that doesn't solve the problem. We need this ever increasing bureaucracy in an attempt to solve the issue, but even that can't fundamentally fix the issue. Now, one commentator says it is very possible that the very last section of high officials, high officials yet higher ones over them, the very end of that verse. It's possible that that's referring to the final authority the final judge got himself overseeing all this situation. Now Benjamin Cha, the commentator who writes this, acknowledges that that's not necessarily the clearest way to interpret this again. It's a hard verse to translate. If so, if that were the case, it would certainly fit in with the larger message of Ecclesiastes. If you remember in Ecclesiastes 3:17, the preacher said in his heart, "God will judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time, for every matter and for every work." But the point is that will not come in this life. That final justice will not come in this life, and we shouldn't be surprised when we see the corruption that pops up in this world. Well, he moves on from public justice to issues of public productivity, In verse nine, he says, "But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields." Now, the difficult part of translating this verse is that word cultivated. The word is simple enough, it's the word that's often translated as served. When you're talking about a person being served, you would use that word, but when you're talking about a field, you could talk about the field being served or it being worked, or it being cultivated as the English Standard Version has it here. If it's the first sense that the king is the one being served, then this is a statement that the king's power is dependent upon agriculture. No matter how much power a king seems to have, no matter how big his army is, no matter how wealthy he is, if he can't provide food for his people, then his power is severely jeopardized. But more likely, this word for served, like the ESV has, it doesn't refer to the king and you really can't tell totally just from the verse itself. More likely, it refers not to the king, but to the fields. So in this case, it would refer to something like a king for or over a cultivated field, or as the ESV has it, a king committed to the cultivated field. Here this would mean that the king's proper role is to ensure freedom for people to cultivate their fields for the flourishing of the whole population. And part of the reason I think the second meaning is more likely in trying to interpret this is it makes a little bit of sense in context with verse eight. He's saying that in light of all the public injustice, the final say, where the buck stops in this life, is the king. He is the final corrective to worldly injustices. The goal there is to make sure that people have the freedom to cultivate their fields for the productivity and the flourishing of that whole population. So why is he saying this? Well, the point is not that the preacher wants to look at this and lament. The point is not that we should be passive and fatalistic. Well, I guess there it goes again, it's just going to happen. The point is that the preacher wants us to be realistic, to not be surprised, not to be amazed when this happens. Why does he want us not to be amazed, not to be surprised? Because there's a warning here. The more we're trying to find some kind of satisfaction, some kind of stability, some kind of hope. We should not put our hope in the public institutions of this world. Not in public figures and not in public institutions, because human figures, human institutions will always let us down. As stable and as secure as they seem, they will always let us down. Ten years ago, a long time before I came to Harvest, I served a time as an interim pastor for a church whose previous pastor had to resign because of moral failure. And I remember the early days of serving in that church and talking with a lot of people and how hurt and disillusioned and distraught they were. Hearing stories about people who had already left the church so frustrated by what was happening. To some degree, I remember at the time thinking, I don't understand it. Why are they so surprised? Sinners, sin? Corruption exists in this world. They shouldn't be amazed by this. I talked to someone and expressed this, and this person said, Well, look, this is a pastor who's led them, a pastor who's preached to them about how to live. Here they're discovering that this is in fact, in large case, a lie in the way that he had been personally carrying out his life. That helped to make a little bit of sense, but where this message really came home was about a month later. You see, my wife and I did not leave our church at the time. We continued in our normal church while I was serving. Our normal church meet in the evenings and this other church meet in the morning, so I could preach in the morning and then go to our normal church in the evenings. So we stayed involved in both churches. About a month later, my pastor at that church confessed to a sin that was morally disqualifying and he was deposed from ministry. So in about a month, suddenly I was the one who was blindsided. I was the one who was shocked and amazed and vexed by all of this. I was amazed. How could this happen? Now, the point is not to stir up distrust against pastors. The point is not to excuse sin. The point is not to harden our hearts so that we never let anyone close to us lest they hurt us. The point is not to withdraw from relationships to people, or certainly not from the church. The point of all of this is that the preacher wants us to be wise in a very particular way. To be wise, not to put our ultimate hope in human beings or in public institutions. Why? Well, corruption should grieve us and corruption must be dealt with. And corruption needs to be preventatively addressed by healthy oversight, healthy accountability. As a pastor, I desperately want oversight in my life. As a pastor my job is to help give you oversight in your life. The preacher wants to make sure that corruption in public life will not sink our faith, will not leave us disillusioned so that we turn away from God forever. He's saying, don't be amazed by this, but by all means, don't put your hope in something that can and will let you down. Painful Wealth The preacher also doesn't want to leave us thinking that the only sins in this world are the sins of corruption for those who are in authority, whether civil authority or whether authority in the church. The preacher then brings his critique and his warnings much closer to home. He stops talking about those in public and he starts talking about you where you are in your heart, especially in your relationship to wealth in life. He has serious warnings for us about the bitter pain of the pursuit of wealth can bring. And so this brings us to our second section painful wealth in Ecclesiastes 5:10-17. The preacher says this, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity." What the preacher saying here, is don't look to wealth? Don't let that be your hope. Don't let that be the place that you put your trust. Don't depend upon that for your salvation and satisfaction, because money is not something that can ultimately give you joy, that can ultimately satisfy you. Charles Bridges, in his commentary, pushes this in in language that I think helps to explain what he's saying. He talks about appetites. Think about the appetites that you have in your life. You have an appetite for hunger, but when you eat food, that appetite is satisfied. It's satiated. You're no longer hungry after you eat food. That's the proper way that God has created that appetite to address food. What about the appetite of thirst? When you're thirsty, you can drink some water, and that appetite of thirst will be addressed. Here's the thing about money. Money is an appetite that when you get what you are hungry for, it doesn't satisfy your appetite. In fact, it creates more of an appetite. You get some money, you want some more money. You're hungry for that money and you get it, that only creates an appetite for greater money, and more and more and more. You're just as unsatisfied, in fact, more unsatisfied as you were before you got the thing that you were trying to gain. Because you can't go directly for joy in this life. The paradoxical joy is what we gain, not by sight, but by faith. Instead, the preacher warns us, life in this world, if you're chasing after money only will mean more problems in life. Look at verse 11, he says, "When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?" Now, a lot of wealth in our day and age is sort of created at a distance. Sometimes, you put money in a stock market and some company that maybe is on the other side of the country or the world and whatever's happening there, you don't know, but at the end of the day, it provides a dividend and wealth is created. But in these days, the way wealth was created was much closer to home. It was with a farming operation. It was in flourishing of trying to get the field tilled and the crops grown and the agriculture the animals raised and livestock which are growing and reproducing and healthy. That takes a lot of people to keep that farming operation going. Well, when you have all of these servants that you hire to do this work, that means more mouths to feed. So when goods increase, when you have this flourishing operation with lots of employees. Well, the ones who eat the goods that you're producing also increase. More money, more problems, more complications. Then he says, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? What advantage does this owner really have but more problems and the ability just to see the expressiveness of the operation that he's trying to keep all the plates spinning for that? Instead in verse 12, the preacher says, "Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep." Those who labor in common simple ways sleep sweetly, but those who are anxious about their money have difficulty entering into the most basic of human activities sleep. Now some of you employ people and I don't want to dissuade you from doing this. The preacher doesn't want to dissuade you from doing this. That's a good and a noble calling. But he wants you to make sure that you're not looking to this operation, this business as the place where you will find satisfaction and the place where you will define yourself and to lift yourself up. It will let you down. If you're looking for satisfaction there, you will only find toil. Then he says in verses 13 to 17, he gives this story this parable of the way in which money cannot just provide complications, but he it creates what he calls a sickening evil. It's called a grievous evil, but literally it's kind of a sickening evil. This is a gut punch. He says, "There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture." All this toil to build up this wealth and all of those riches were lost in a moment in a bad venture. This is a gut punch. This is a sickening evil, but it gets worse. "And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger." Don't look to money as your source of satisfaction. Don't look to money and wealth and the business you can build as the way in which you will satisfy your soul. Because more money will only invariably mean more problems if you were looking to them to be your salvation. Paul says the same thing in 1 Timothy 6:10, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." You see, here's the deal, when we think about money, we think about all the pleasures that money can buy. Money in many ways can be thought of as buying happiness because money can buy all the things that give us so much enjoyment in this life. With all the pleasures that money can bring, ultimately money cannot buy lasting real happiness. If you say I get a little bit of joy after spending money in this area, I will get ultimate joy if I put all of my efforts behind getting enough money to satisfy all of the cravings that I want in my life. It doesn't work that way. The appetite it creates doesn't get satisfied. It only grows larger and more unsatisfied the more effort you put behind it. It's like drinking seawater if you're lost at sea. It's like what it would be to look around and water water everywhere and who says I can't drink it and to slake your thirst, to try to reach and and dip down into some of that cool water in the sea? But what happens there is your body is built, in God's good providence, where there's a process of osmosis, where your cells are trying to balance the the water and saline content inside and outside your cells. So if there's a lot of water and salt in your body, the water inside your cells will try to leave the cells to try to compensate and dilute the salt outside the cells. When that happens in water leaves your cells, then your body says you're more thirsty and you become more thirsty and you drink again and more salt goes into your body until your cells are more and more dehydrated until your kidneys shut down and you die a slow and horrifying death. That's the kind of picture of this, of an appetite that cannot be satisfied. It will ultimately kill you if you drink from the salt water that wealth can give. You can't put your hope in public life. You can't put your hope and your private stocks and in your wealth and in your business and in your toil, you can't find any hope for satisfaction in this world under the sun. So where then can you turn? What can you look for for satisfaction in life? Paradoxical Joy Well, it's not in the things of this world or in the systems and institutions of this world, but it's rather in God. Where this passage leads us into our big idea that God provides paradoxical joy. The third section, then, is about this paradoxical joy and versus 18 to 20. How then shall we live? Well, verse 18, "Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot." Now wait a minute, you say just a moment. You said there isn't satisfaction, there isn't enjoyment in your toil and in your life. Why are you now saying that it's good and fitting to find enjoyment in your toil? Well, the point is not that we can actually, after all, find our enjoyment in pleasure. Remember the preacher in Ecclesiastes 2:1-8 tried to explore all the pleasures wine, women and song, and tried to find some lasting satisfaction somewhere in there and he experimented with everything, and none of it would provide this lasting satisfaction. What the preacher is saying here is it's not that you were looking to the pleasures, it is that you were looking to the God who gives them not to the gifts of this life, but to the giver. It's a fundamentally different way to look at how we enjoy life. In verse 19, he goes on. He says, "Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God." Again, the point is not to tell you to try to find satisfaction in your possessions. The preacher is counseling us to find joy and contentment and satisfaction in God, who is the giver of all good things. Derek Kidner, a commentator, writes " At first sight, this may look like the mere praise of simplicity and moderation, but in fact, the key word here is God, and the secret of life held out to us is openness to him, a readiness to take what comes to us as heaven sent, whether it is toil or wealth or both." And so in verse 20, the preacher says for, explaining what he has been saying, "For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart." There's a promise here. That if you live in this way where you were looking to God to find enjoyment and satisfaction in your life, whatever injustices you endure at the hands of public officials, whatever toil and hardship that you find that you have to enter into in the grueling parts of your life, that nevertheless, through it all, you will be occupied with joy. That's a promise from God. You won't grow bitter and vexed because of the injustices of this world. You will rather be thankful for the freedoms that you do have. You won't be consumed by the riches that you gain or when you lose them, consumed with those. You will rather enjoy everything as a gift from God and able to hold it open handed for whenever he see fits to take it from you. God will keep you occupied with joy in your hearts. Now, remember the strategy of Abraham Lincoln. It wasn't by directly pursuing the prize that he was able to gain. He had to go a different way. He had to depend not on trying to win outright, but he won outright by trying to be everyone's second choice. Well, in the same way in life, if we pursue satisfaction by a direct pursuit, if we pursue the stuff of this world, or put our satisfaction in the institutions of this world, we won't ultimately be satisfied or enjoy our life. If we live through this life and look at everything that we have as a gift from God, the attention not on the gift but on the giver, then we will find deep joy and our hearts will be occupied with joy. Well, a few years ago, my wife and I went on vacation to Phoenix, and while we were there, we drove to the Grand Canyon. It's about a three and a half hour drive north to the Grand Canyon. Now here's the thing, the Grand Canyon is one of the most spectacular places I have ever seen with my own eyes. The Grand Canyon is more than everyone had even told me it was. It was absolutely breathtaking. But the drive in Arizona? Let's just say it's not. It's not really a very attractive place to drive through Arizona. I once drove through Arizona in the middle of the summer. Thankfully, this wasn't then, and I felt like I was driving on the planet Mars. There was just death everywhere, just a long, extended journey of death. Well, so this wasn't a particularly nice place to drive, but I will tell you, that's one of the favorite drives that I've ever made in my life. My wife and I had a few children by that time, three children, and this was three and a half hours there and three and a half hours back that we were able to talk uninterrupted because it was just us there. We were able to talk about so many things. We talk a lot, but that was a particularly enjoyable, engaging conversation. The circumstances weren't great, who wants to be in a car for seven hours in a day? The scenery wasn't great again, most of it looked like a winterized form of Mars. Yet I was occupied with joy in my heart through this conversation because of the companionship that was a gift from God in that time. That's what the preacher is telling us about here. Don't look at your circumstances. Don't look at your life and expect that in itself your life will give you joy and satisfaction and meaning. You can't gain the prize that you seek by going after it directly. You must go at it slant. You must come at it by a different angle. You must not look to the gifts and number of them up and see what's there and not that. You must instead look to the giver to be occupied with God's paradoxical joy. Application That then, is our application today, be occupied with God's paradoxical joy. Don't chase after joy. Don't chase after happiness directly. We all want to be happy. We all want to be satisfied. But the Bible is warning us, especially the preacher who's tried everything under the sun, is warning you that wherever you look in this life, in this world, you will not find it. Everything and everyone will let you down, unless you start to look at this world, not by fixating on the gifts, but you start looking to the giver. I was reading a theologian this week named John Webster, a theologian who's recently died, and he was talking about the creation of the world and the creation of the world out of nothing. It was very technical, a lot of it was over my head, but I was reading it and he made one point that was so interesting to me. He said the reason why people cannot get their heads around believing that God created everything, the heavens in the Earth and everything in them out of nothing, is not because of some reason from science, it's not because of some philosophical commitment. He says the reason that we struggle to believe that God created everything out of nothing is because we love this world. We love creation. Our hearts are bound up in this created thing, and we can't bear the thought that there may have been a time when this world did not exist, and there will be a time when this world will be destroyed by fire. We cannot bear to think that they would have to be a creator to bring about this world that we so often look to for satisfaction. No matter how many times in our life, we have to get beat down by this same world when we are let down again and again and again. Our hearts don't have room for believing that there is a creator. Jesus Christ tells us instead, and Matthew 6:33, he says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Don't seek the things. Don't seek all these things. First, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Seek God's paradoxical joy. He says the fundamental problem of the human heart, as Paul explains in Romans 1:25 is that we have all exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and we have worshipped and serve the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. We love this world. We love what we can see. We want to bow down to the idols that we can see in front of us in our world, the things that can capture our hearts and our affections and our attention. God says there is more than that. There is something beyond this world. There was a time when this world did not exist, and I, the Lord and the one who brought everything to pass. I the Lord and the only one, God says, who can satisfy the deepest cravings of your life. But what this means is that you cannot walk by sight. You can't chase every shining object that your eyes catch a hold of, a glimpse of in this world. Do not walk by sight. We walk by faith, not by sight. We don't look for satisfaction based on what we can see. We trust in what God teaches us, what promises God makes to us in his world. This is a paradoxical joy. We cannot pursue happiness directly. To find joy, w can't give ourselves over to pleasure. We can't give ourselves over to public activism. We can't give ourselves to toil in order to amass for ourselves more stuff. The things that you enjoy cannot give you lasting joy. We all have this creation orientation when we must instead have a creator orientation, a redeemer orientation. Where our hearts are looking, not to this world, not to everything under the sun, but to the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God above the sun. The one who created the sun, the heavens and the Earth and everything in them. As a pastor, my biggest burden, what I pray for you all most often, is that you would set your heart not on the things of this world, but on Christ, who is seated above in the heavenly places. As a Christian, my biggest burden for me, what I pray most of all for me, is that I would not set my heart on the things of this world, but on Christ, who is seated in the heavenly places. God promised us lavishly that that is where we will find true satisfaction. Psalm 16:11 declares, "You make known to me God the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore?" Not in this world, but in the presence of God. God is gracious and he is merciful, and he gives joy and life and peace and satisfaction in super abundant generosity, because he loves you. The one who created the world and everything in it, he loves you. The all consuming fire. The Lord of all the hosts, the Armies of heaven. The one who created all things effortlessly by the word of his power. This one has set the full fury of his love on you. So much so that he was willing to send his only begotten, his beloved son into this world to die for you. To go to the cross and bear the curse of your sin and your shame, to take your place on the cross so that you could be forgiven of your sins and go free. Not only that, but so that you could be raised up to newness of life, to resurrection life, when Jesus returns on the last day to live and eternity with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forever. All of this comes to those who walk not by sight, but who walked by faith. Who trust not in this world and the things of this world and the promises of this world and the institutions of this world, but trust in the promise of God held out to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The more you seek directly after joy, the more elusive it will be, the more it will slip right through your fingers. The more you will want it, that appetite will grow and the less satisfied you will feel. Don't be amazed by this. Don't be deceived by this. Do not walk by sight, rather, let this wisdom of God set up clear boundaries in your mind and in your heart. Leading you to abandon any hope that you might put in this world so that you can invest all your hope in Jesus Christ, who was crucified and resurrected for you and for your sins. This is the hope of the gospel that is held out to all those who look to Jesus Christ in faith, turning from their sins in sorrow. God promises that if you look to Christ for forgiveness, you will be saved. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would give us Christ. That this hope would not just be a theoretical thing in our minds, but that we would depend upon him for our salvation. That we would look to Jesus Christ recognizing that everything in this world will let us down and that we must not set our hearts on it. We pray that you would give us Jesus Christ and him crucified, through faith by the power of your Holy Spirit in and by the word of God given to us. We pray for Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.

The facts of Abraham Lincoln's assassination are well-known — the president was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre, on April 14, 1865. But what about the others close to the event? Today, we discuss the assassination attempt of William Seward, why Ulysses S. Grant didn't go to Ford's Theatre that night, and the tragic fate of the young couple who shared the Lincoln's theater box, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/historyfirst/support

Newly sworn-in presidents usually give a speech referred to as an inaugural address. As with many inaugural customs, this one was started by George Washington in 1789. After taking his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall, he proceeded to the Senate chamber where he read a speech before members of Congress and other dignitaries. Every president since Washington has delivered an inaugural address. While many of the early presidents read their addresses before taking the oath, current custom dictates that the chief justice administer the oath first, followed by the president's speech.Jefferson's first inaugural. This comes on the heels of the election of 1800, famous for how divisive it was. Jefferson talks about the need to "restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection" that had taken a pretty severe beating. "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."Lincoln's first inaugural. The famous lines about "we must not be enemies" begin in the final paragraph of the speech. There's also a good angle on speechwriting here, because the final paragraph was not written by Lincoln, but drafted by his incoming secretary of state, William Seward—which Lincoln then polishes into the famous lines we're familiar with.Lincoln's second inaugural. This is one of the shortest inaugurals, in which Lincoln basically says up front "I don't need to tell you that there was a war..." and I think it's notable that it *sounds* tired, even on the page. The famous "with malice toward none" quote begins.FDR's first inaugural. FDR opens with the section that includes the famous "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." (Which is possibly something he picked up from Thoreau!) "This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today" are something relevant to today. His closing lines are also pretty good in terms of talking about coming together to face down a national emergency.Kennedy is not quite a crisis speech in the same way, because the crisis was international rather than at home. But his call to recommit to American values is a parallel to Biden's, perhaps. The paragraph preceding "Ask not what your country can do for you".I see some parallels between Trump's "American Carnage" speech and Reagan's "Government is the Problem" speech that might be interesting to talk about. They both talk about restoring power to the people (possibly a deliberate echo by Trump, who was looking to Reagan for inspiration; Reagan's framing was about "special interest groups" and how the only special interest groups that matter are Americans), but they both also let their cynicism show.Trump is nearly all cynicism, of course, but Reagan's "government is the problem" is also a cynical position that's at odds with other modern inaugurals. (In Reagan's speech, "government is the problem" section. In Trump's speech. Unfortunately, it's just 4 sentences, but it's spread over nearly a minute, ugh!) And then if you want to endcap this, you could bring in Clinton's second inaugural "And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government. Today we can declare: Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We, the American people, we are the solution. Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It was probably inevitable, but as a weekly sketch comedy show, Almost Live! was often compared to network television's Saturday Night Live. Why not? Almost Live! aired on Seattle's KING TV every Saturday night, immediately adjacent to the venerated SNL. Both shows had 'live' in their title. Both traded in sketch comedy. Both featured regular ensemble casts of performers and writers satirizing the world around them - the national SNL show more broadly; the local Almost Live, more... locally. But while Saturday Night Live featured a different guest host every week - Almost Live! - from 1988 to 1999 - had the same guest host every time... John Keister. Yes, Keister. Insert your joke here. He's heard them all. John and Seattle grew up together. His neck of the woods is the Seward Park neighborhood. Abraham Lincoln, who had quite a neck himself, had a secretary of state named William Seward. He's the guy who came up with the idea of buying Alaska in 1867. It was so cheap, he bought it with cash on hand. And some coupons. John Keister grew up in a time when "kids spent more time on bicycles than on their damn phones!" [The preceding sentence was written by a grouchy old man from Covington.] Seward Park is not far from Lake Washington... very near the spot where summertime's Seafair Hydroplane races took place. And John, like lot of other Seattle kids of the time, were so enamored with the sport of hydroplane racing that they would fashion toy versions of the big boats... tie them onto their bikes with long strings... and then drag them behind as they pedaled at top speed down the neighborhood streets. Today, they'd be arrested. John attended Sharples Junior High (now called Casper W. Sharples Alternative Secondary School) which is too much for any kid to remember or spell. Franklin High School was John's next stop - he being just one of many famous Franklin alumni including Fred Hutchinson, baseball star and namesake of Seattle's preeminent cancer research center... There was a student named Ron Santo - who became a Hall of Fame baseball star - another alum was Keye Luke, an actor famous as number one son in the Charlie Chan movies. Cartoonist, Lynda Barry went to Franklin - as did international dancer and choreographer, Mark Morris. Also a Franklin graduate: one-time governor, Gary Locke - Seattle's legendary sports writer, Royal Brougham was a Frankliner. And some of the Nordstroms went there. and Kenny G. - and Johnny K. - John Keister. Everybody went to Franklin. Except, of course, Franklin. John Keister official sites AlmostJohnKeister.com John Keister | YouTube John Keister | Facebook Next, the U-Dub - working with the student newspaper, The Daily. After graduating, he got hired at a Seattle music magazine, The Rocket - which lead to a gig called 'The Rocket Report' on a KING TV show. Not long after, a new show called 'Almost Live!' came along - and through an unlikely happenstance - John began doing stuff for it. When Almost Live! took a dirt nap in 1999, Keister tried a new show across town on KIRO TV along with another Almost Live guy, Bob Nelson - The John Report with Bob. Then John was a writer on 'The Eyes of Nye' - a national show featuring another 'Almost Live' alum, Bill Nye. And his eyes. Today, John Keister is sort of a Seattle icon as much as the Space Needle - although not as tall; as much as grunge music - although without the distorted guitar and angst; and even as native as the geoduck - although Keister himself is not a bivalve mollusk with a shell. Unless he's been holding out on me. He's the dad of three adult kids - Elroy, Riley and Arlo. And just like William Faulkner, Warren Buffet and Eminem - who all stayed in the places they grew up - so has John Keister. Here he is, from the Seattle home he shares with his wife, Mary - still living within blocks of the old neighborhood.

Brody Burton of "Imagine If" joins for this special crossover episode between our two podcasts.  In addition to providing insight into the origins of "Imagine If", we get the experience of its format with Brody's alternate timeline where William Seward wins the US election of 1860.The "Imagine If" Website:https://sites.google.com/view/imagineifListeners can get a FREE audiobook with theirFREE 30-Day Trial Membership from Audible CLICK HEREWebsite: www.aforkintimepodcast.comE-Mail: aforkintimepodcast@gmail.comDirect Link to Listener Survey: https://www.aforkintimepodcast.com/listenersurveyIf you enjoy the podcast, you can help by supporting us via Patreon.https://www.patreon.com/aforkintimeYou can follow A Fork In Time on….Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aforkintimeTwitter: @AFITPodcastPinterest: www.pinterest.com/aforkintimeTheme Music: Conquer by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/aforkintime)

William Seward was one of the most influential men of the 1860s. He served as both Governor of and Senator from New York, and would serve as Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. A staunch abolitionist and supporter of civil rights, this episode explores the American Civil War under William Seward rather then Abraham Lincoln. Today's episode was done with Don Shelley from A Fork In Time podcast. It's an amazing show, and I'd recommend it to anyone. A Fork In Time's website and the show on Apple Podcasts, check it out once your done with this episode. Click here for the expanded show notes for today's episode.

Hey, y'all! Welcome back to a huge tone shift as we talk about the morally-decent life of Horace Greeley. Join us as we discuss the adventures of the 1830s Millennial Hipster experience, ultra-specific newspapers, and we reveal our brand new right-wing grift.

Over the past month, Sofia and Ashley have been compiling a list of all the best books and authors to share with the Travel Brats Tribe. We’ve asked friends, family, and our listeners for what books they love and why, so now we have a big list of some of the greatest novels of all time. We’ve got a little bit of everything from nonfiction to historical fiction to mystery to romance, so delve on into our comprehensive book recommendations.Top picks for NONFICTION:Dreams of Eldorado: A History of the American West. By W.H. Brand     This overview of the history of the West is exciting and beautifully written. Lewis and Clark, The Texas Revolution, California Gold Rush, wild San Francisco, Building the Trans-Continental Rail Road, over  the Sierras and across the plains which are  filled with Indians, one-armed John John Westly Powell leading the first expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, John Coulter discovering  Yellowstone and the Tetons( in mid-winter), all incredible, separate stories that, in combination,  depict what the West was like and why it is still so much a part of the American spirit. The Second World Wars By Victor Davis Hanson     You may be wondering how someone could write anything new about WWII. But Dr.Hanson does. He has a commanding understanding of the grand strategy and tactics of each combatant nation, their strengths, and weaknesses, economically and militarily, who had the best weapons, how geography affected battles, and much more. It is just a very creative explanation of  the overall inexorability of the of the Allied victory (as long as they didn’t make too many blunders). If you would like a shorter and lighter example of what an inspiring writer Dr.Hanson is, try The Savior Generals, which shows how important leadership can be(examples in the book are: William Tecumseh Sherman, Mathew Ridgeway, and David Petraeus). A Team of Rivals  By Doris Kearns Goodwin This is about Abraham Lincoln and the brilliant men he chose for his cabinet, nearly all of whom wanted his job. There good mini-biographies of each cabinet member and his relationship with Lincoln. The most revealing is the relation with William Seward, who, brilliant in his own right, initially was Lincoln’s biggest rival and most severe critic. But Seward is smart enough to quickly realize that   Lincoln is in a class of his own and is far and away from the best man for the difficult times ahead. How Seward then becomes Lincoln’s most trusted and valuable advisor one of the great stories in this masterpiece. The Thomas Sowell Reader: By Thomas Sowell    This is a compilation of short essays explaining, with humor, wit, and logic, how economics really works in our everyday lives. No graphs or equations,but clear lessons. Dr. Sowell has written many         other engaging and brilliant books, all recommended..The Aviators By Winston Groom    This is the story of the early days of aviation from before WWI through WWII as seen and lived by three remarkable aviation pioneers. Eddie Rickenbacker was a mechanic then race car driver ,who became America’s WWI ace fighter pilot. After the war , he founded and was president of Eastern Airlines, among other things. Jimmy Doolittle not only led the early air raid on Tokyo in WWII, he was a  pioneer in developing and flight testing aviation instrumentation. Charles Lindberg is known for being the first person to solo the Atlantic, but he also flew 40 combat missions as a civilian in WWII and greatly improved fighter plane engine performance. This is great adventure.    Top FICTION PicksOpen Season: By C.J. Box This is the first in a series of mysteries about game warden, Joe Pickett as he solves mysteries in the rugged mountains of Wyoming. Well plotted stories with engaging character development and great descriptions of the Wyoming wilderness.The Black Echo: By Michael ConnellyThis is the first in a series about police detective Harry Bosch. These mysteries are filled with rich, detailed descriptions of the grittier sides of LA, along with police department political intrigue and multiple plots. The have a compelling feeling of authenticity. The author was a police reporter before he started writing fiction.South of Broad: By Pat Conroy He has written so many great books, that it is difficult to pick just one. Most are about the South Carolina coastal region, and all are beautifully written with vivid description of this amazing area. South of Brond is his last and my favorite by an eyelash.The Gods Themselves: BY Isaac Asimov. Dr. Asimov is one of the giants of the Golden Age of science fiction. This book is perhaps even more timely today ( about free clean energy) than when it was published in 1972. It consists of three stories,one the near the future on earth, one a beautifully described alternative universe, and lastly, a very plausible story on our moon after it is colonized. All stories seem totally independent until the end. This is engaging and imaginative writing and would be a great introduction to science fiction.  War and Peace: By Leo TolstoyThis really is a fun and exciting read with sweeping grandeur and lots of subplots. Not at all dull like most books that are” classics”. OK it is long.-even better. A miniseries in one volume.Think of it as Downton Abbey in Russia,in the middle of a war. It will not take you 5 years to read. Promise!Top Picks for Fiction Continued 1.  Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf     This is a story of the relationship between a widower and a widow  who are in their 70's.  They are acquainted as neighbors in a small rural town in eastern Colorado. This is a bittersweet tale of two lonely people who get to know each other better; sharing thoughts and feelings during the night which they agree can be so terribly lonely.  A beautiful story of second chances unfolds in this author's last book before his death.2.  A Painted House by John Grisham     This is a story narrated by a 7-year old farm boy(Luke) who lives in Arkansas with his parents & grandparents in a house that has never been painted. The family has a hard life picking cotton on an 80 acre farm that they rent. They have to hire Mexican  immigrants and hill people from the Ozarks to help them at harvest time. This book is referred to as a  "real slice of Americana" with vivid descriptions of life in the rural South in the 1950's.   Young Luke has a dream of being a Major League baseball player and looks forward to listening to games on the radio.  While this novel portrays some of the mundane experiences of his life, it also includes some harsh realities and a loss of innocence that he experiences.  The author usually writes legal thrillers, none of which I read.  But I found John Grisham to be a superb storyteller.  And I found this book to be a moving story of a portion of a  young  boy's life.3.  Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Very Highly Recommended)     This is a mesmerizing story of the richness of the North Carolina coastal marshlands and the disturbing story of a young woman who is abandoned by her parents and older siblings as a young child.  As the story unfolds we learn how she adapts and survives in the swamps with very little help from the outside world. And it also includes a love story and a murder-mystery tale.  So this book has a little bit of everything.  This book is so beautifully written and contains poetry and vivid descriptions of the Marsh where the entire story takes place.4.  Just for good measure, I have to mention 3 other books by the author of my #1 selection--Kent Haruf.  They are:  Plainsong,  Where You Once Belonged  and  The Tie That Binds.  All three of these are compelling and compassionate novels set in the High Plains of Colorado. The author is an amazing storyteller who captures the everyday lives of various people in a small rural community.Top Picks For Mystery, Drama, and Historical Fiction: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Ashley’s favorite book of all time, and has a first edition)Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Anne Burns (Suzi S/O)Kite Runner by Khalid HosseiniThe Book Thief & I am the Messenger by Markus ZusakThe Woman in the Window by AJ FinnThe Pilot’s Wife & Last Time They Met by Anita ShreveThe Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann MasonThe Tattooist of Aschwitz by Heather MorrisPachinko by Min Jinn Leethe Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks,The Irishman by Charles BrandtWhiskey Beach by Nora Roberts,A Southern Family Gail GodwinMy sister's Keeper and All the Small Things by Jodi Pidcolut,China rich Girlfriend by Kevin KwanBest Authors Recommended:Pat ConroyJames MichenerErnest Hemingway (Ashley loves him)Willa CatherFerrol SamsTom WolfeCJ BoxJohn GrishamSue GraftonKathy ReichsPeter MayleLeon UrisJames Patterson (Mysteries)Top Series PicksMiss Marple seriesHercule Poirot series --my favorite is Murder on the Orient Express Harry Potter The Alex Rider series by Anthony HorowitzOUR LISTENERS’ FAVORITE BOOKS (Thank you Hannah)Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte19th century Gothic Romance novel that follows the hard life of Jane Eyre in her journey to meeting and falling in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, but she runs into trouble when she realizes that Rochester is keeping his first wife hostage in their attic.The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis18th century Gothic Horror novel that follows much of the plot of a modern soap opera. This novel details the depraved nature of a monk who sells his soul to his cross-dressing friend who turns out to be a woman, who then turns out to be a demon sent from hell to tempt him. Through his deal with the demon he tries to fulfill his sexual desires toward a young woman in his village who ends up being his long lost sister. Churches burn, people are poisoned, raped, and trampled to death. Pretty saucy for the 1700’s. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradburyset in a dystopian, futuristic society (likely America) where reading is outlawed, anyone who owns a book is arrested, and the book is promptly burned. The citizens are held captive by cool technology and entertainment so they do not realize that the government is completely taking over their minds and stifling knowledge. Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzeeset in an unnamed, futuristic society where members of “the Empire” are waiting to be attacked by “the Barbarians”. The main character ends up bringing a Barbarian girl to his home after she is captured and tortured by the Empire. There are lots of really weird, sexual bathing scenes, but ultimately, this novel is a commentary on racial injustice in South African apartheid. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austensuch a popular story, but many people have only seen the movie. If you read the book, you get to see the personalities of Darcy and Elizabeth so much clearer which makes their relationship so fun. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhysthis is a prequel to Jane Eyre that shows the origin story of Bertha, Rochester’s first wife and how she came to be “the mad-woman in the attic.” It made me cry.Dracula by Bram Stokerthe 19th century Gothic/Horror story that many people know so well but have never actually read. Follows a team of vampire hunters led by a Dutch professor after Jonathan iis kidnapped and held hostage by Count Dracula. The team must race against time before Mina is forever un-dead and made to be Dracula’s wife. Super creepy, and uncomfortably sexual, lots of blood, kinda saucy. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronteanother 19th century Gothic Romance novel with a much more sinister and creepy love interest. Lots of Ghosts, some weird love triangles, and lots of useless violence. Rad. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickensarguably the best Dickens book. It’s about two men, one British and one French, fighting over the same girl during the French Revolution. Literally anything by Agatha Christie-- Christie is known as the “Queen of Murder” and she is the most widely published author of all time. She wrote 80 novels and short story collections and 19 plays. Here are my favorite titles of her work and plays:The Mousetrap-the longest running play in historyAnd Then There Were None (also called Ten Little Indians)Appointment with DeathThe HollowWitness for the ProsecutionTowards ZeroVerdictGo Back for Murder Honorable MentionsPrince of TidesHawaiiThe Giver by Lois LowryBetsey, A Memoir with Mark VitulanoMademoiselle ChanelAtlas ObscureA Little Life by Hanya YanagiharaA Moment of Lift by Melinda GatesThank you Sofia’s grandpa, Shelia, Sebastian, Caleigh, Jenny, Rachael, Hannah, and all of the wonderful people who made suggestions and recommendations! We love you! Enjoy and read on. 

In this episode we hear the origin stories of Abraham Lincoln and William Seward. An injured friend, a burned city, building pressure, and a showdown in Chicago. The Civil War approaches. Book recommendations can be found on https://www.bromancesofhistory.com/

The Whigs were desperate for victory in 1848, and Abraham Lincoln joined a group promoting the candidacy of General Zachary Taylor. Lincoln showed that he could be an effective speaker -- but he could not have foreseen that his efforts would help destroy the party that he had devoted his life to.

Eine mechanische Rechenmaschine, besser und zuverlässiger als die damals in der Bank vorhandenen Maschinen, war der Plan von William Seward Burroughs. Am 21. August 1888 erhielt er das Petent darauf.

Thom summarizes his rankings for the losers of the period of American history from 1860-1892: Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, John Bell, George McClellan, Horatio Seymour, Horace Greeley, Samuel Tilden, Winfield Scott Hancock, James Blaine and James Weaver.  He also discusses some interesting 'nearly also-rans': William Seward, Salmon Chase, Cassius Clay, Roscoe Conkling, Thomas Hendricks, Thomas Bayard, Benjamin 'Beast' Butler, and the various third parties of the era, from the Women's Equality Party to the Prohibition Party. 

Season 3, Episode 30. After months of growing tension between the United States and Britain, a single event nearly plunged the two countries into war. When a Union naval officer illegally boarded a British mail ship and arrested two Confederate diplomats, many British leaders saw it as a deliberate provocation, engineered by William Seward, to provoke Britain into a war over its Canadian territory. After news of the arrest reached London, tempers were so high that many people, in reflection, believe that the only thing that prevented war was the delayed communication between the two countries that came from a broken telegraph cable. Chris Calton recounts the controversial history of the Civil War. This is the 30th episode in the third season of Historical Controversies. You may support this podcast financially at Mises.org/SupportHC.

Acclaimed biographer John Loughery tells the story of John Hughes, son of Ireland, friend of William Seward and James Buchanan, founder of St. John's College (now Fordham University), builder of Saint Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, pioneer of parochial-school education, and American diplomat. As archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in the 1840 and 1850s and the most famous Roman Catholic in America, Hughes defended Catholic institutions in a time of nativist bigotry and church burnings and worked tirelessly to help Irish Catholic immigrants find acceptance in their new homeland. His galvanizing and protecting work and pugnacious style earned him the epithet Dagger John. When the interests of his church and ethnic community were at stake, Hughes acted with purpose and clarity.In Dagger John, Loughery reveals Hughes's life as it unfolded amid turbulent times for the religious and ethnic minority he represented. Hughes the public figure comes to the fore, illuminated by Loughery's retelling of his interactions with, and responses to, every major figure of his era, including his critics (Walt Whitman, James Gordon Bennett, and Horace Greeley) and his admirers (Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln). Loughery peels back the layers of the public life of this complicated man, showing how he reveled in the controversies he provoked and believed he had lived to see many of his goals achieved until his dreams came crashing down during the Draft Riots of 1863 when violence set Manhattan ablaze.To know "Dagger" John Hughes is to understand the United States during a painful period of growth as the nation headed toward civil war. Dagger John's successes and failures, his public relationships and private trials, and his legacy in the Irish Catholic community and beyond provide context and layers of detail for the larger history of a modern culture unfolding in his wake.John Loughery is the author of, Alias S. S. Van Dine, John Sloan: Painter and Rebel, The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities, a Twentieth Century History, the last two of which were New York Times Notable Books. His biography of John Sloan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography. His most recent book is Dagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America.

In this Pre-Civil War episode of Humdaddy History, the Compromise of 1850 is unpacked.  Focusing on the efforts of senators Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Calhoun, William Seward and new star Stephen Douglas, this episode will reveal what deals were made to help the United States stay united.  This is a massively important Pre-Civil War topic that demonstrates how quickly the country was growing apart.

Get your presidential Ugly Christmas Sweater T-Shirt Now! Free Amazon Prime Shipping! _______________________________ William Seward is one of the most influential Americans that we rarely hear about! In this episode we follow Seward through his career and into retirement. _______________________________ Support us on Patreon! For only $0.11 per episode ($1/month) you can be part of our Patreon community. For a few more bucks per month we'll throw in two bonus episode! Check it out. ____________________________ Support the show! Use this link to do your shopping on Amazon. It won't cost you a penny more and it will help us out!  ElectionCollege.com/Amazon ________________________ Be sure to subscribe to the show! Leave us a review on iTunes - It really helps us out! Facebook  |  Twitter  | Instagram ________________________ Music from: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music ________________________ Some links in these show notes are affiliate links that could monetarily benefit Election College, but cost you nothing extra.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get your presidential Ugly Christmas Sweater T-Shirt Now! Free Amazon Prime Shipping! _______________________________ William Seward is one of the most influential Americans that we rarely hear about! Hear about his early life and ascent to Secretary of State. _______________________________ Support us on Patreon! For only $0.11 per episode ($1/month) you can be part of our Patreon community. For a few more bucks per month we'll throw in two bonus episode! Check it out. ____________________________ Support the show! Use this link to do your shopping on Amazon. It won't cost you a penny more and it will help us out!  ElectionCollege.com/Amazon ________________________ Be sure to subscribe to the show! Leave us a review on iTunes - It really helps us out! Facebook  |  Twitter  | Instagram ________________________ Music from: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music ________________________ Some links in these show notes are affiliate links that could monetarily benefit Election College, but cost you nothing extra.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Secret codes, ciphers, and telegrams. It used to be that in order to transmit information during wartime, various industries encoded their messages letter by letter with an elaborate system--much like today's digital encryption. Grant breaks down some of those secret codes--and shares the story of the most extensive telegram ever sent. Plus, we've all been there: Your friends are on a date, and you're tagging along. Are you a third wheel--or the fifth wheel? There's more than one term for the odd person out. Finally, a rhyming quiz about famous poems. For example, what immortal line of poetry rhymes with: "Prose is a nose is a hose is a pose"? Plus, women named after their mothers, variations on "Happy Birthday," at bay, nannies' charges, and a blues singer who taught us to jump steady. FULL DETAILS Great news for scavenger-hunt designers, teenage sleepover guests, and anyone else interested in being cryptic! The old-school commercial codes used for hiding information from the enemy in a telegraphs is at your fingertips on archive.org. Have fun. If you're single but tagging along on someone else's date, you might be described as a fifth wheel, a term that goes back to Thomas Jefferson's day. Not until much later, after the bicycle had been invented, the term third wheel started becoming more common. The long popular and newly legal-to-sing "Happy Birthday to You" has always been ripe for lyrical variations, particularly at the end of the song. Some add a cha cha cha or forever more on Channel 4, but a listener tipped us off to another version: Without a shirt! We spoke on the show not long ago about yuppies and dinks, but neglected to mention silks: households with a single income and lots of kids. Quiz Guy John Chaneski brings a game of schmoetry—as in, famous lines of poetry where most of the words are replaced with other words that rhyme. For example, "Prose is a nose is a hose is a pose" is a schmoetic take on what famous poem? A young woman who works as a nanny wants to know why the term charge is used to refer to the youngsters she cares for. Charge goes back to a Latin root meaning, "to carry," and it essentially has to do with being responsible for something difficult. That same sense of "to carry" informs the word charger, as in a type of decorative dinnerware that "carries" a plate. Plenty of literature is available, and discoverable, online. But there's nothing like the spontaneity, or stochasticity, of browsing through a library and discovering great books at random. After a recent discussion on the show about garage-sailing, a listener from Henderson, Kentucky, sent us an apt haiku: Early birds gather near a green sea/ Garage doors billow on the morning wind/ Yard-saling. To jump steady refers to either knocking back booze or knocking boots (or, if you're really talented, both). It's an idiom made popular by blues singers like Lucille Bogan. Long distance communication used to be pretty expensive, but few messages have made a bigger dent than William Seward's diplomatic telegram to France, which in 1866 cost him more than $300,000 in today's currency. This pricey message aptly became known as Seward's Other Folly. Someone who's being rude or pushy might be said to have more nerves than a cranberry merchant. This idiom is probably a variation on the phrase busier than a cranberry merchant in November, which relates to the short, hectic harvesting season right before Thanksgiving. The Spanish version of being a fifth wheel on a date is toca el violin, which translates to being the one who plays the violin, as in, they provide the background music. In German, there's a version that translates to, "useless as a goiter." It's far less common for women in the United States to name their daughters after themselves, but it has been done. Eleanor Roosevelt, for one, is actually Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Jr. A listener from Dallas, Texas, wonders why we say here, here to cheer someone on, and there, there to calm someone down. Actually, the phrase is hear, hear, and it's imperative, as in, listen to this guy. There, there, on the other hand is the sort of thing a parent might say to console a blubbering child, as in "There, there, I fixed it." We spoke on the show not long ago about how the phrase to keep something at bay derives from hunting. A listener wrote in with an evocative description of its origin, referring specifically to that period when cornered prey is able to keep predators away--that is, at bay--but only briefly. It's a poignant moment of bravery. This episode is hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette. -- A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2016, Wayword LLC.

In this episode, we explain why William Seward is the OG of US Asia strategy, debate the origins of the rebalance to Asia under President Obama, and bring on two guests-- James Brown (University of Sydney), explaining how Asia and Australia are viewing the United States and China, and Evan Montgomery (Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments), discussing the importance of military superiority for any grand strategy. Evan also discusses what his new book, In the Hegemon’s Shadow (Cornell University Press), means for future US strategy toward Asia. 

Secret codes, ciphers, and telegrams. It used to be that in order to transmit information during wartime, various industries encoded their messages letter by letter with an elaborate system--much like today's digital encryption. Grant breaks down some of those secret codes--and shares the story of the most extensive telegram ever sent. Plus, we've all been there: Your friends are on a date, and you're tagging along. Are you a third wheel--or the fifth wheel? There's more than one term for the odd person out. Finally, a rhyming quiz about famous poems. For example, what immortal line of poetry rhymes with: "Prose is a nose is a hose is a pose"? Plus, women named after their mothers, variations on "Happy Birthday," at bay, nannies' charges, and a blues singer who taught us to jump steady.FULL DETAILSGreat news for scavenger-hunt designers, teenage sleepover guests, and anyone else interested in being cryptic! The old-school commercial codes used for hiding information from the enemy in a telegraphs is at your fingertips on archive.org. Have fun.If you're single but tagging along on someone else's date, you might be described as a fifth wheel, a term that goes back to Thomas Jefferson's day. Not until much later, after the bicycle had been invented, the term third wheel started becoming more common.The long popular and newly legal-to-sing "Happy Birthday to You" has always been ripe for lyrical variations, particularly at the end of the song. Some add a cha cha cha or forever more on Channel 4, but a listener tipped us off to another version: Without a shirt!We spoke on the show not long ago about yuppies and dinks, but neglected to mention silks: households with a single income and lots of kids. Quiz Guy John Chaneski brings a game of schmoetry—as in, famous lines of poetry where most of the words are replaced with other words that rhyme. For example, "Prose is a nose is a hose is a pose" is a schmoetic take on what famous poem?A young woman who works as a nanny wants to know why the term charge is used to refer to the youngsters she cares for. Charge goes back to a Latin root meaning, "to carry," and it essentially has to do with being responsible for something difficult. That same sense of "to carry" informs the word charger, as in a type of decorative dinnerware that "carries" a plate.Plenty of literature is available, and discoverable, online. But there's nothing like the spontaneity, or stochasticity, of browsing through a library and discovering great books at random.After a recent discussion on the show about garage-sailing, a listener from Henderson, Kentucky, sent us an apt haiku: Early birds gather near a green sea/ Garage doors billow on the morning wind/ Yard-saling.To jump steady refers to either knocking back booze or knocking boots (or, if you're really talented, both). It's an idiom made popular by blues singers like Lucille Bogan. Long distance communication used to be pretty expensive, but few messages have made a bigger dent than William Seward's diplomatic telegram to France, which in 1866 cost him more than $300,000 in today's currency. This pricey message aptly became known as Seward's Other Folly.Someone who's being rude or pushy might be said to have more nerves than a cranberry merchant. This idiom is probably a variation on the phrase busier than a cranberry merchant in November, which relates to the short, hectic harvesting season right before Thanksgiving.The Spanish version of being a fifth wheel on a date is toca el violin, which translates to being the one who plays the violin, as in, they provide the background music. In German, there's a version that translates to, "useless as a goiter."It's far less common for women in the United States to name their daughters after themselves, but it has been done. Eleanor Roosevelt, for one, is actually Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Jr. A listener from Dallas, Texas, wonders why we say here, here to cheer someone on, and there, there to calm someone down. Actually, the phrase is hear, hear, and it's imperative, as in, listen to this guy. There, there, on the other hand is the sort of thing a parent might say to console a blubbering child, as in "There, there, I fixed it."We spoke on the show not long ago about how the phrase to keep something at bay derives from hunting. A listener wrote in with an evocative description of its origin, referring specifically to that period when cornered prey is able to keep predators away--that is, at bay--but only briefly. It's a poignant moment of bravery.This episode is hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2015, Wayword LLC.

Rob and Chris learn about the Age of Imperialism and the Spanish American War. George Washington looks down from President heaven with disgust in how America is changing. William Seward takes a risk by purchasing Alaska and it pays off in both gold and polar bears. Sugar farmers say aloha to Hawaii and push their queen into a volcano. The US and other world powers arrive to the Samoan Islands, but are disappointed that all the huts are not Pizza Huts. Teddy Roosevelt invites the leaders of Russia and Japan to go bar hopping in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. TLDR: America, freedom bullies of the world!

Lincoln's indispensible man, William Seward, lived most of his adult life in Auburn, NY, that is, when he wasn't governor of New York, a US senator, or Secretary of State during the Civil War.  Host Matthew Stevenson speaks with Andy Roblee of the William Seward House.

For this episode of GhostPee Nick and Weston throw the intro right out the window, right out the friggin window! And maybe it's because instead of being joined as usual by a stand up comedian we were instead visited by artist/writer/entrepreneur/podcaster/travelling man William Seward Bonnie! In this episode nothing escapes, no stone is left unturned. Sports allegiances, religions, outlaws, drugs, art, the modern literary scene and a whole chicken pot pie worth of other fascinating topics are broached, flayed, sauteed, and served up for your listening pleasure. You can check out more of William's efforts here: http://cheeseburgernebula.tumblr.com/ Like us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/GhostPee/1435972356658377 Check out Weston and Nick's personal comedy pages: https://www.facebook.com/westonucomedy https://www.facebook.com/mystagogueholland

The assassination of the 16th president is one of the singular events in American history, and historian Anthony Pitch uses primary source material to document and reveal previously unknown facts about Lincoln's death; the murder of his secretary of state, William Seward; and the events that led to the torturous incarceration of John Wilkes Booth's co-conspirators. According to Pitch, Lincoln was under threat of assassination from the time of his first inauguration, in 1861. Gen. Winfield Scott, in charge of military defenses in Washington, feared secessionists would kill Lincoln even before his inauguration. And six weeks before shooting Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Booth was forcibly restrained from approaching the president as he walked through the rotunda of the Capitol to be sworn in for his second term. Pitch details the murder plots that were unsuccessful as well as the successful one by referencing hundred of sources. Most of his research was conducted at the Library of Congress. Speaker Biography: Historian Anthony Pitch is also the author "The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814." He spoke about that book at the Library in 1998.