I would like to specially thank the society for its efforts to assist my predecessor and the Curators Office of obtaining the portraits of all 19 of the prior courts which have now been obtained. On behalf of all the officers of the court here, i would like to thank the society for the all the efforts they give to all of us. We are joined by three distinguished scholars for discussion of the civil war and its impact on Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. The moderator of the program will be professor brad snyder. He is an assistant professor of law at the university of Wisconsin Law school. He is the author of wellpaid slave. He is currently at work on the society of truth and other progressives that lived in the Dupont Circle rowhouse and formed a political salon in the 1910s. He has written extensive articles about justice holmes. Tonights analysts are James Mcpherson and g. Edward white. James mcpherson is the George Henry Davis Professor Emeritus of United States history at princeton un