EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. President Abraham Lincoln's grant of freedom, on 1 January 1863, was given to slaves in states then in rebellion. In conformity with the preliminary proclamation of 22 September 1862, it declared that all persons held as slaves within the insurgent states—with the exception of Tennessee, southern Louisiana, and parts of Virginia, then within Union lines—"are and henceforth shall be, free." The proclamation was a war measure based on the president's prerogatives as commander in chief in times of armed rebellion. Admonishing the freedmen to abstain from violence, it invited them to join the armed forces of the United States and pledged the government to uphold their new status. Unlike the preliminary proclamation, it contained no references to colonization of the freed slaves "on this continent or elsewhere."

Enshrined in American folklore as the central fact of Lincoln's administration, the actual proclamation was a prosaic document. On the day it was issued, it ended slavery legally and effectively only in limited areas, chiefly along the coast of South Carolina. Eventually, as Union forces captured more and more Southern territory, it automatically extended freedom to the slaves in the newly conquered regions. Moreover, the mere fact of its promulgation ensured the death of slavery in the event of a Northern victory. The Emancipation Proclamation may thus be regarded as a milestone on the road to final freedom as expressed in the Thirteenth Amendment, declared in force on 18 December 1865.

Although Lincoln had always detested the institution of slavery, during the first year of the war, he repeatedly emphasized that the purpose of the conflict was the maintenance of the Union rather than the emancipation of the slaves. Aware of the necessity to retain the support of both the border states and the Northern Democrats, he refrained from pressing the antislavery issue. Thus, he countermanded General John C. Frémont's emancipation order in Missouri and General David Hunter's proclamation in the Department of the South. But Lincoln signed confiscation bills, by which the private property of Southerners was subject to forfeiture, as well as measures freeing the slaves in the District of Columbia and in the

federal territories. In addition, he urged loyal slave states to accept proposals for compensated emancipation.

These piecemeal measures did not satisfy the radical Republicans. Tirelessly advocating a war for human freedom, they pressured the president to implement their program. Lincoln sought to satisfy his radical Republican supporters and reap the diplomatic rewards of an anti-slavery policy—foreign powers were reluctant to recognize the slaveholding Confederacy—all without alienating the border states. The peculiar wording of the Emancipation Proclamation shrewdly balanced these conflicting interests.

The president wrote the first draft of the preliminary proclamation during June 1862. On 13 July he revealed his purpose to Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Nine days later, he read the document to the cabinet but, upon Seward's advice, postponed its publication. To promulgate the proclamation so shortly after General George B. McClellan's early summer failure to take Richmond would have been impolitic. It is also possible that Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the treasury, desiring piecemeal emancipation, persuaded Lincoln to wait a bit longer.

During the following weeks various groups urged Lincoln to adopt an emancipation policy. However, even though he had already decided to comply with their request, Lincoln refused to commit himself and remained silent about the document then in preparation. Even in his celebrated reply to Horace Greeley's "Prayer of Twenty Millions" (22 August 1862), Lincoln emphasized that his paramount objective in the war was to save the Union, not to destroy slavery. Although he conceded that his personal wish had always been that all men everywhere could be free, it was not until after the Battle of Antietam (17 September 1862) that he believed the time had come for the proclamation. Informing his cabinet that his mind was made up, Lincoln accepted a few minor alterations and published the document on 22 September, promising freedom to all persons held as slaves in territories still in rebellion within the period of 100 days.

The reaction to the preliminary proclamation was varied. Denounced in the South as the work of a fiend, in the North it was generally acclaimed by radicals and moderates. Conservatives and Democrats condemned it, while all blacks enthusiastically hailed it as a herald of freedom.

During the 100-day interval between the two proclamations, some observers questioned Lincoln's firmness of purpose. Republican reversals in the election of 1862, the president's proposal in December for gradual compensated emancipation, and the revolutionary nature of the scheme led many to believe that he might reconsider. But, in spite of the conservatives' entreaties, Lincoln remained steadfast. After heeding some editorial suggestions from his cabinet, especially Chase's concluding sentence invoking the blessings of Almighty God, in the afternoon of 1 January 1863 he issued the proclamation.

The appearance of the Emancipation Proclamation clearly indicated the changed nature of the Civil War. It was evident that the conflict was no longer merely a campaign for the restoration of the Union but also a crusade for the eradication of slavery. In the remaining period of his life, Lincoln never wavered from this purpose. Having already said that he would rather die than retract the proclamation, he insisted on its inclusion in all plans of re-union and amnesty. His administration became ever more radical and he actively furthered the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment. It is, therefore, with considerable justice that Lincoln has been called the Great Emancipator.

The president's calculations proved correct. Following the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, and owing to increased evidence of federal military prowess, neither Great Britain nor any other power recognized the Confederacy; nor did any border states desert the Union. The document thus stands as a monument to Lincoln's sense of timing, his skill in maneuvering, and his ability to compromise. The freedom of some 4 million human beings and their descendants was the result.

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

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