Sitting alone in my apartment gesticulating on my laptop, its really wonderful too i guess be able to articulate a person to you guys today. So just wanted to give a big thank you to the organization of american historians for putting together this conference and for accommodating all of the different varieties in which people chose to participate, even though i know that came at some great logistical challenges. I also want to thank rachel and bart who unfortunately cant be here today but who was really the one responsible for bringing us all together today. She originally conceived as a roundtable as one thatd would be focused on the civil war in the west but ultimately last year around february decided to focus it on 1862. This is the year when the Republican Party succeeded in passing some of its original campaign promises, abolishing slavery in the district of columbia, the western territories as well as passing the homestead act. It achieved legislative victories that would help