In the keynote address, James Oakes talked about the emancipation debate during the secession crisis. Prior to the start of the Civil War, Washington, D.C., was deeply focused on the issues of secession and emancipation. "Disunion Is Abolition: The Emancipation Debate during the Secession Crisis" was the fifth session of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society (USCHS) Spring Symposium, "Secession and War Come to Washington," which was part of the series "The National Capital in a Nation Divided: Congress and the District of Columbia Confront Sectionalism and Slavery."