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Too, Lincoln didnt have to send his "army" to Missouri. Local federal authorities and loyal Union men there were able and active.

That's precisely the point, Walt. Missouri had already decided to stay in the union and had very few indications of doing anything else. They simply asked that their neutrality be respected and the war not be conducted on their soil. To ensure this, the Missouri government dispatched the state militia to stand guard at home as they are legally entitled to do. But that wasn't enough for Lincoln - staying in the union alone didn't satisfy him. He wanted war, so he marched the federal army into St. Louis, used it to arrest a nearby militia encampment, marched them as prisoners through the streets, and used that same army to fire upon civilians who protested that their state was being invaded and their lawfully assembled militia being taken hostage. The legislature, which had previously affirmed itself as unionist, heard of this and acted to halt the invasion with remaining militia forces as the army then turned upon the state government. The legislature and governor fled southward towards Arkansas as Lincoln's army advanced on them to, quite literally, overthrow their government. This how the Neosho secession ordinance came about, Walt. The previously-unionist legislature convened in Neosho while fleeing the federal army and voted, as a last resort, to secede. Lincoln had physically driven the state of Missouri out of the union.

I work for a black/female company with a heavy family influence. In March, the owner of this company had a potluck to celebrate Black History Month. The theme food was "soul", and I brought Peach Cobbler. Our potluck went as follows, is rather long, but leads into a question I have about about Abe Lincoln:

Friday 2/28/03:

We were having a potluck to celebrate Black History Month, and the requirement was to try and bring soul food. At about 12:30 all employees were called downstairs as the festivities were to begin.

Those who got there early enough got a chair at a large conference table, and the remainder were standing. I had a seat at the table. The owner was present at the front of the room and we waited for the remainder of the employees to join us. Our President, David Burcham, and our Senior V.President, Jim Webber, were also present and are both white.

We were waiting on the sister of the owner and the H.R. Manager (both black), who had to be retrieved, and took seats at the front of the room also.

A co-worker (black) welcomed everybody and informed us that we were going to view a short video. No one knew what the subject matter was going to be. The video was, in my opinion, about 10-15 minutes long and showed an anonymous female interviewer asking David Burcham, our President, pertinent racial questions about his "white male" views on working in a minority company and regarding affirmative action. I was angry from the onset as I felt it put Mr. Burcham on the spot and that the questions were racist in nature. Mr. Burcham looked visibly "in-the-hot-seat" on this video and sheepish in our conference room. I felt manipulated and put into a one-sided political situation.

Being a conservative female in a majority of liberals, I keep my political viewpoints to myself, except for rare occasions when low-key debates have come up with several co-workers. (Not usually initiated by me.)

After the video was over, the owner stated that "Mr. Burcham was not AWARE of the questions that were going to be asked of him beforehand, and didn't he do a great job!" (I saw it as a dirty trick for her political agenda.) Mr. Burcham sat there quietly.

David, on several occasions, made eye contact with me. I don't know if I should have read into this or not, but felt that either he could sense my uncomfortable demeanor, or was gauging my reaction to his position in all of this.

Jim Webber and David Burcham then left the room briefly, but returned with Jim (a white man) dressed in Native African garb, and David dressed as Abraham Lincoln. I had no idea where this was going.

We were told to dig in to the food and, after we got our plates and sat down, Jan announced she was going to use her "ebonics" if we didn't mind, and many laughed at this. Jan uses ebonics in all her little presentations. She then stated we were going to have a "quiz", and if you answered her questions correctly you could win money! So while we ate, she shot off the first question: "Who knows what Article 15 of the Constitution states?" Our Marketing Director(white) answered her correctly. I believe he received $20. She then asked another question about the constitution, in which another Marketing employee (white)answered correctly.

I do not remember the rest of the questions from that point on as I was so uncomfortable and angry. The discussion was turning to affirmative action and support for it, while Jan moved around the room asking people their personal feelings on what a specific amendment meant to them. One new gal didn't know what to say and Jan looked at her and said "No one told you about me, did they baby?" But, the new gal just answered what the others had answered, and Jan had made a comment about how important it is to know our history so that it doesn't repeat itself. She was referring to Slavery.

Soon after, Jan asked David to read from a book up at the front of the room. David had the book opened and proceeded to read, and even voiced an accent as perhaps Abe Lincoln may have sounded. The passage was with respect to Abe Lincoln's belief that Slaves would never be equal to whites, that they shouldn't have children between races and that they would always be inferior to whites. My immediate Supervisor, Patricia Bryant, lost composure and stated "I think he was an idiot" referring to Abe Lincoln.

I had a difficult time containing my anger and sat for only a few minutes more. I finished my food, got up to throw my plate away, went and retrieved some dessert and left the room as unconspicuously as possible.

I'm still reeling from the policial fervor of Jan's presentation and heard laughter from downstairs as I sat at my desk trying to decide what action to take. I was extremely offended by this show of indoctrination and found it hugely inappropriate.

Question: Can anyone explain the passage referred to about Lincoln's claims that blacks were inferior, shouldn't mate with whites, etc., etc.? I wish I knew the name of the book from which our President read from, but I don't.

Thank You for being patient enough to read through this story.