Making Teddy

After leaving government, Lincoln is settling into his life as a successful lawyer with a young family. Earlier setbacks have left him feeling like he’s done with politics, but politics are not done with him. When new domestic policy jeopardizes the momentum of abolition, Lincoln decides he can no longer sit on the sidelines. His fight against slavery takes him to the national stage and then to Washington, as the newly elected president of a fractured country.

Growing up poor on his father’s farm in the frontier wilderness of Indiana, Abraham Lincoln seems to be  the least likely man to lead the country. But Lincoln’s  love for learning and desire to leave a mark on the world take him from a hardscrabble farm life to winning his first election.

Lincoln takes office as the southern states domino into secession. By spring of 1861, the country is at war, and eleven states have left the Union. As Lincoln learns to be both president and commander-in-chief, emancipation becomes the most pressing question. Lincoln must convince the nation that the Civil War should  be about more than simply preserving the Union.

Lincoln finally passes the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring the end of slavery and establishing the United States Colored Troops. Meanwhile, Confederate forces gain momentum under their new general, Robert E. Lee. Hope for the end of the war hangs on a victory at Gettysburg. 

With the end of the war in sight, Lincoln grows frustrated as the Union army stalls, and his promises of emancipation struggle to take root even within his own army  When the Union finally does break the Confederacy and emerges victorious, Lincoln’s triumph - and his very life - is cut tragically short. But his legacy lives on.

Few presidents inspire such wildly different views of their legacy as our 18th President, Ulysses S. Grant.Hosted by Broadway legend André de Shields “Making Grant” brings together leading historians, authors and journalists to understand the journey of this remarkable, unlikely hero to Civil War general and president.From The HISTORY® Channel, a new five-part season about a man history still struggles to understand.