Civil War: Emancipation Proclamation
"We are all liberated by this proclamation. Everybody is liberated. The white man is liberated, the black man is liberated, the brave men now fighting the battles of their country against rebels and traitors are now liberated,country."
Frederick Douglass, Speech at the Cooper Institute (1863)
Frederick Douglass, Speech at the Cooper Institute (1863)
Lincoln knew he could not eliminate slavery without saving the Union contrary to abolitionist views. Lincoln gave 100 days of warning to the South to cease the rebellion, otherwise he would eliminate slavery in the rebellious states. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was instated.
"We shout for joy that we live to record this righteous decree. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, in his own peculiar, cautious, forbearing and hesitating way, slow, but we hope sure, has, while the loyal heart was near breaking with despair, proclaimed and declared: "That on the First of January, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty-three, All Persons Held as Slaves Within Any State or Any Designated Part of a State, The People Whereof Shall Then be in Rebellion Against the United States, Shall be Thenceforward and Forever Free.""
Douglass Monthly, October 1862 |
Excerpt from personal phone interview with Ka'mal McClarin
"If God gave us the victory in the approaching battle, he would consider it an indication of Divine will, and that
it was his duty to move forward in the cause of emancipation."
Lincoln, September 22, 1862
it was his duty to move forward in the cause of emancipation."
Lincoln, September 22, 1862
Newspaper Articles Covering the Emancipation Proclamation
(click to enlarge and see source)
(click to enlarge and see source)
" . . . all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; . . . "
Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863
Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863