All of us have many lessons to learn from a study of the Civil War era. Since the resulting United States has become such a military and political power we ordinary citizens must understand that we define the government and the government's actions defines us to the rest of the world. For many years the United States has used military force or the threat of military force in a manner similar to the Federal response to the Rebellion of the Confederate States. It does work quite well but causes tremendous destruction and social disruption as did the Civil War, and it is very expensive. Being powerful, we have the responsibility for that power whether we like it or not.

We have, I think, gotten ourselves in a difficult situation by the repeated use of military force and threats outside our borders. The enduring hatreds toward this nation have resulted recently in such tragedies as the World Trade Center bombing and the terrorist attack.

If we never question the actions of the government we are abandoning our responsibility as citizens. If we allow violence to become the method of resolving political and social disagreements we put ourselves in grave danger.

In the 1850's along the Kansas-Missouri border situations developed where irresponsable and violent actions were allowed. Great injustices occured, hatreds developed and the legal system which could have operated to "right the wrongs" was inadequate. Although it seems impossible to us in the present with our well developed social and legal controls, this continued and eventually became part of a larger violent conflict - the Civil War.

Studying this situation is very timely and appropriate. Understanding the causes and results of the conflict can help the nation's leaders in finding more appropriate ways of dealing with conflicts. I thank all the people who have taken the time to contribute to this interesting discussion of the Kansas and Missouri Civil War, and especially Howard Mann and the other researchers and contributors who are going beyond the accepted histories in their studies.