Emancipation Program for the Lake County Bar Association Literary Committee

For those in the Painesville, Ohio, area tomorrow, and who are willing to brave the several inches of lake effect snow that the forecasts are calling for, I will be speaking to the Lake County Bar Association's Literary Committee at the Lake County Court House in downtown Painseville at 4:45 pm. The topic of the program will be Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The program is open to the public, and we will be meeting in Judge Culotta's courtroom on the first floor of the building.


If you can make it for the program, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon in Painesville.

January 30, 1863: "I am about to raise a colored regiment in Massachusetts"

150 years ago, in January 1863, the United States government began fulfilling the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation by starting to raise African American regiments for the Union army. On January 20, the War Department sent word authorizing Massachusetts Governor John Andrews to raise an all black regiment. On January 30, Andrews wrote to Francis Shaw, a noted Boston abolitionist, to request his assistance in the matter:

As you may have seen by the newspapers, I am about to raise a colored regiment in Massachusetts. This I cannot but regard as perhaps the most important corps to be organized during the whole war.

I am desirous to have for its officers—particularly for its field officers—young men of military experience, of firm anti slavery principles, ambitious, superior to a vulgar contempt for color, and having faith in the capacity of colored men for military service. Such officers must necessarily be gentlemen of the highest tone and honor; and I shall look for them in those circles of educated anti slavery society which, next to the colored race itself, have the greatest interest in the experiment

With my deep conviction of the importance of this undertaking, in view of the fact that it will be the first colored regiment to be raised in the free states, and that its success or its failure will go far to elevate or depress the estimation in which the character of the colored Americans will be held throughout the world, the command of such a regiment seems to me to be a high object of ambition for any officer.

Andrew asked Francis Shaw to pass along the following to his son Robert, a Captain in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry:

Captain,

I am about to organize in Massachusetts a Colored Regiment as part of the volunteer quota of this State—the commissioned officers to be white men. I have today written your father expressing to him my sense of the importance of this undertaking, and requesting him to forward to you this letter, in which I offer to you the Commission of Colonel over it. The Lieutenant Colonelcy I have offered to Captain Hallowell of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment. It is important to the organization of this regiment that I should receive your reply to this offer at the earliest day consistent with your ability to arrive at a deliberate conclusion on the subject.

Respectfully and very truly yours,

John A. Andrew

 Thus, 150 years ago, Captain Robert Gould Shaw was offered the colonelcy of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. While he initially turned down the offer, Shaw ultimately accepted. The story of Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts is one of the great events of 1863, and it reminds us that the Civil War was indeed a fight for the future of freedom in the United States.

Dr. King on Emancipaton

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is also a day of even greater historical importance because of the Second Inauguration of President Barack Obama. Whether one is a republican or democrat, Inauguration days are historic events for our nation. I think this post is very appropriate for today.


I posted a link to this speech in my post on the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, but I wanted to post the text of it as well. What follows is the text from remarks given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. King's words ring true as they speak of the powerful impact of the proclamation on the course of freedom in the United States.

Dr. King presented the following speech at the New York Civil War Centennial Commission’s Emancipation Proclamation Observance, New York City, September 12, 1962

Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Address

If our nation had done nothing more in its whole history than to create just two documents, its contribution to civilization would be imperishable. The first of these documents is the Declaration of Independence and the other is that which we are here to honor tonight, the Emancipation Proclamation. All tyrants, past, present and future, are powerless to bury the truths in these declarations, no matter how extensive their legions, how vast their power and how malignant their evil.

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed to a world, organized politically and spiritually around the concept of the inequality of man, that the dignity of human personality was inherent in man as a living being. The Emancipation Proclamation was the offspring of the Declaration of Independence. It was a constructive use of the force of law to uproot a social order which sought to separate liberty from a segment of humanity.
Our pride and progress could be unqualified if the story might end here. But history reveals that America has been a schizophrenic personality where these two documents are concerned. On the one hand she has proudly professed the basic principles inherent in both documents. On the other hand she has sadly practiced the antithesis of these principles.

If we look at our history with honesty and clarity we will be forced to admit that our Federal form of government has been, from the day of its birth, weakened in its integrity, confused and confounded in its direction, by the unresolved race question. We seldom take note or give adequate significance to the fact that Thomas Jefferson’s text of the Declaration of Independence was revised by the Continental Congress to eliminate a justifiable attack on King George for encouraging slave trade…Jefferson knew that such compromises with principle struck at the heart of the nation’s security and integrity. In 1820, six years before his death, he wrote these melancholy words:

"But this momentous question (slavery), like a fire bell in the night awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves by the generation of 1776 to acquire self-government and happiness to their country is to be thrown away, and my only consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it."

The somber picture (of the condition of the American Negro today) may induce the sober thought that there is nothing to commemorate about the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. But tragic disappointments and undeserved defeats do not put an end to life, nor do they wipe out the positive, however submerged it may have become beneath floods of negative experience.

The Emancipation Proclamation had four enduring results. First, it gave force to the executive power to change conditions in the national interest on a broad and far-reaching scale. Second, it dealt a devastating blow to the system of slaveholding and an economy built upon it, which had been muscular enough to engage in warfare on the Federal government. Third, it enabled the Negro to play a significant role in his own liberation with the ability to organize and to struggle, with less of the bestial retaliation his slave status had permitted to his masters. Fourth, it resurrected and restated the principle of equality upon which the founding of the nation rested.

When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation it was not the act of an opportunistic politician issuing a hollow pronouncement to placate a pressure group.
Our truly great presidents were tortured deep in their hearts by the race question. Jefferson with keen perception saw that the festering sore of slavery debilitated white masters as well as the Negro. He feared for the future of white children who were taught a false supremacy. His concern can be summed up in one quotation, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.”

Lincoln’s torments are well known, his vacillations were facts. In the seething cauldron of ‘62 and ‘63 Lincoln was called the "Baboon President" in the North, and "coward", "assassin" and "savage" in the South. Yet he searched his way to the conclusions embodied in these words, "In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free, honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve." On this moral foundation he personally prepared the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation, and to emphasize the decisiveness of his course he called his cabinet together and declared he was not seeking their advice as to its wisdom but only suggestions on subject matter. Lincoln achieved immortality because he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. His hesitation had not stayed his hand when historic necessity charted but one course. No President can be great, or even fit for office, if he attempts to accommodate to injustice to maintain his political balance.

The Emancipation Proclamation shattered in one blow the slave system, undermining the foundations of the economy of the rebellious South; and guaranteed that no slave-holding class, if permitted to exist in defeat, could prepare a new and deadlier war after resuscitation.

The Proclamation opened the door to self-liberation by the Negro upon which he immediately acted by deserting the plantations in the South and joining the Union armies in the North. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, seeing a regiment of Negroes march through Beacon Street in Boston, wrote in his diary, “An imposing sight, with something wild and strange about it, like a dream. At last the North consents to let the Negro fight for freedom.” Beyond the war years the grim and tortured struggle of Negroes to win their own freedom is an epic of battle against frightful odds. If we have failed to do enough, it was not the will for freedom that was weak, but the forces against us which were too strong.

We have spelled out a balance sheet of the Emancipation Proclamation, its contributions and its deficiencies which our lack of zeal permitted to find expression. There is but one way to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation. That is to make its declarations of freedom real; to reach back to the origins of our nation when our message of equality electrified an unfree world, and reaffirm democracy by deeds as bold and daring as the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Travels and Talks

I just got back home yesterday from what was a whirlwind week. Last Wednesday, I spoke on the Emancipation Proclamation for the James A. Garfield NHS at the Mentor Public Library (thanks to all those who came out, it was a good turnout). After that, I hopped in the car, drove to Pennsylvania to stay with family Wednesday night, and then on through West Virginia, Maryland, and finally into Virginia on Thursday to speak on the Battle of Stones River for the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable Thursday night (a packed house, with some very nice folks).

As if that wasn't enough, I then went to Alexandria, stayed with a fraternity brother from Hillsdale, and went into D.C. for two days of research at the National Archives. I managed to find a few new things for my Antietam research, and looked over corps and division returns for my new project (which I really hope I can announce on here sometime soon). After that, I made a stop in State College to see my scientist girlfriend (Alison is a grad student in Chemistry at Penn State; she calls me Park Ranger boyfriend, so I guess she gets a career themed moniker as well), and then, at the end of hours of driving over hundreds of miles, I am back in Ohio... for now. More trips are fast approaching! I will be heading back to Georgia at the end of the month for research, battlefield hiking, and visiting family.


A big thank you to my Uncle Chris and Aunt Kathy for hosting me on Wednesday and my Hillsdale College buddy Craig Kreinbihl for hosting me on Thursday and Friday.

Also, a big thank you to the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable group as well for the invitiation to speak. What a tremendous turnout! I greatly enjoyed my evening speaking to the group, and couldn't have been happier with how things went.


Of course, before leaving D.C., I had to make a side trip to see my favorite person in Washington...

Anyways, it is good to be busy. Even if I'm not working every day for the Park Service, I am still very blessed.

January 1, 1863: A New Birth of Freedom

On January 1, 1863, 150 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, signed and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in those states then in rebellion against the Federal government to be "then, thenceforward, and forever free."

Lincoln had barely slept the night before, if even at all. He spent much of the evening as he often did, pacing the lonely halls of the Executive Mansion, a solitary figure with the weight of the nation, the freedom of four million souls, and the eyes of history on his shoulders. He knew that the approaching dawn would bring with it the promise of a new birth of freedom, a freedom forged out of the blood and destruction of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Those were the battles of the past year. They had signaled the nation's descent into a sanguinary, revolutionary struggle that would destroy the old Union and open the door for the hope of a new, more perfect Union. Lincoln's actions on January 1, 1863 would be a key event in making sure that the sacrifices of so many soldiers in 1861 and 1862 would lead to a new birth of freedom in 1863 and beyond.

On the morning of January 1, Lincoln wrote out the final text for the Emancipation Proclamation. Upon finishing, the text was sent to the State Department for an official copy to be made. By mid-morning, the text had returned, but Lincoln found a small error and, wanting the final copy to be perfect, sent the document back once again.

At noon, Lincoln was downstairs to greet the throngs of well wishers, dignitaries, and diplomats for the customary New Year's Day festivities at the Executive Mansion. He stood and patiently and pleasantly greeted visitors for two full hours, knowing that he still had important work to do that day. Once the line of visitors had ended and the doors of the Mansion were closed, Lincoln adjourned to his office upstairs where Secretary of State William Seward soon met him. Seward brought with him the final version of the Emancipation Proclamation.

As Lincoln prepared to sign the document, the effects of his hand shaking were soon felt. His arm began to shake, almost uncontrollably so, as he later said. Lincoln paused, took a moment, said aloud, "I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper." Lincoln affixed his signature in a steady manner, so as to make sure there was no doubt in his mind and that his resolve was firm. Lincoln later stated that the Emancipation Proclamation was "the central act of my administration, and the great event of the nineteenth century."



The Emancipation Proclamation, signed 150 years ago today, was the greatest presidential act in American History. Surely, more still needed to be done. The war needed to be won. Millions of slaves still needed to learn of the act, and for many, freedom still meant the necessity of fleeing to Federal lines. The Confederacy was not yet dead, and its resolve was in no way diminished. It would take the Thirteenth Amendment to put the final nail in slavery's coffin, killing the monstrous institution once and for all. And yet, in one proclamation, Lincoln had signaled a turning point in American history. The Emancipation Proclamation was the first major step on the road toward freedom for over four million Americans, but it was a first step without which the others would not have been possible. In many ways, the Proclamation was a sheet of paper; and yet, so was the Declaration of Independence. Each document required sacrifice and victory on the battlefield for its promise of freedom to become a reality. Each document signaled a "new birth of freedom".


Below is the text of the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation signed 150 years ago today.

By the President of the United States of America:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 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; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. Johns, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New-Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South-Carolina, North-Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth-City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk & Portsmouth); and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

[L.S.]

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

For more on this historic measure, here are a few links:


American Experience Video on Emancipation

President Barack Obama's proclamation to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation

National Archives webpage on the Proclamation

Martin Luther King Jr. on the Proclamation

Bruce Catton on the Proclamation

John Ellen Journal, 23rd OVI, Part 3: "Thousands of true men have paid the debt of nature..."

Today is part three of a three part series of posts containing the journal entries of 2nd Lt. John Ellen, 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On Wednesday, we looked at Ellen's posts for late August through September. Yesterday, we saw Ellen's posts for October, November, and early December. Today, we will look at just two entries: one for December 21, 1862, 150 years ago today, and the other for January 6, 1863.

In the entry written 150 years ago today, Ellen laments the recent Union defeat at Fredericksburg. He is quite gloomy when considering the prospects for the war and the country, almost on the point of declaring that the war will never end. Considering his comments on December 3rd (seen in yesterday's post) regarding the inefficiency of the Government and the army, Ellen seems to lack faith in the government to do what is necessary to win. In the second entry, dating to January 6, 1863, Ellen comments on the Emancipation Proclamation and the recent Union victory at Stones River (Murfreesboro).

Camp Maskell, VA

Dec. 21, 1862

Sunday night; received a letter from E.H.C. and have answered it; all well. Prospect gloomy, wet lowering weather; disagreeable. Burnside’s defeat casts a gloom over all. The General is whom the people looked for great achievements as the successor of McClellan, with a powerful army under his command, has committed a great blunder, and suffered a ruinous repulse. Thousands of true men have paid the debt of nature, and thousands of hearthstones are made desolate. Everything does seem to indicate the establishment of a Southern Confederacy. Inneficancy [sic] in the Government Departments clogs the movements of a million soldiery. The strife will never be ended by the sword. Madness must cease, and reason assume the sway, else all will be ruined.

No bread to issue in the morning, all out, none at Piatt. No clothing to be had in our Division (2nd, Kna). No pay to troops in six months; very cheery prospects for the foreboding class of the army.

No news later than the 17th.



Camp Reynolds, VA

January 6, 1863

The name of our camp is changed from “Maskell” to that of “Reynolds”, Col. Hayes [Rutherford B. Hayes, future 19th U.S. President] made the in honor of Eugene Reynolds, the Sergeant Major of the 23rd killed at the Battle of South Mountain. The tribute is a good one. Eugene was a splendid soldier—intelligent, brave, and prompt.

The new year 1863 ushers in one important (maybe) event; the President’s Proclamation of Emancipation of the slaves in the rebellious states. It is possible to work some good, and probably (very) some evil. So I think.

Gen. Ewing has left the “Valley” with four Reg’ts; the 47th, 30th, 37th OVI and the 4th VA VI. Destination Kentucky.

The news of the 3rd inst. Report a severe battle at Murfreesboro, Tenn. Rosecrans in command of the Union forces, and Bragg of the Confederates. Reported Union success.

No letters from E.H.C. in two weeks.

Have been to Piatt and Fayette, this month.

Source: John S. Ellen Journal, Western Reserve Historical Society, Mss. 3502.

September 22, 1862: "Then, Thenceforward, and Forever Free..."

“When the rebel army was at Frederick, I determined, as soon as it should be driven out of Maryland, to issue a Proclamation of Emancipation… I said nothing to anyone; but I made the promise to myself and to my Maker. The rebel army is now driven out, and I am going to fulfill that promise.”

Abraham Lincoln, September 22, 1862

150 years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, signaling a beacon of hope in the darkness for over four million people held in bondage, and signalling the death knell of slavery in the United States. The road toward freedom would not be complete with one proclamation; the proclamation would be but the first of many steps transitioning from slavery to citizenship for African Americans. Yet, without the first step, none of the other steps would have been possible. The blood shed at Antietam on September 17 had radically transformed the country. The dead of Antietam led to "a new birth of freedom" for this country. 

 

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States, and each of the states, and the people thereof, in which states that relation is, or may be suspended, or disturbed.

That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave-states, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which states, may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate, or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent, or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there, will be continued.

That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 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; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

That the executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States, and parts of states, if any, in which the people thereof respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any state, or the people thereof shall, on that day be, in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such state shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such state and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.

That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An act to make an additional Article of War" approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figure following:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such:
Article-. All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.
Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An Act to suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following:
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such persons found on (or) being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as slaves.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service.

And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act, and sections above recited.

And the executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between the United States, and their respective states, and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves.
L.S.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this twenty second day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty two, and of the Independence of the United States, the eighty seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

"The Will of God Prevails"

Abraham Lincoln could have stopped the Civil War at any moment. He could have pulled back Federal forces, allowing the Confederacy to go its separate way. But he didn't. Lincoln believed that there were forces at work in the nation during those four years which went far beyond his own powers to act. In short, as the war dragged on, and as more wives became widows and children became orphans, Lincoln began to turn to God for answers.

The paragraph below was written by Lincoln in September of 1862. Historians have not yet specified exactly when it was written in the month, but it is generally believed to be from those pivotal late summer days in 1862 when the fate of the nation, and the freedom of millions, hung in the balance. The words below were written privately by the president. In the words of Lincoln's secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay, these words were "not written to be seen of men." It was found by Hay in Lincoln's desk, and thus preserved for posterity. It shows the thought processes of the 16th President at a crucial time in American history. During September, 1862, the fate of the nation rested on the events in Maryland. Sitting in the president's desk was a proclamation declaring emancipation for all those enslaved in the states then in rebellion. He simply needed a victory to issue the document. Lincoln was hoping that victory would come in Maryland. As Lincoln later told Salmon Chase, “I made a solemn vow before God, that if General Lee was driven back… I would crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves.”

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect (sic) his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun, he could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

In 1865, standing in front of the U.S. Capitol after winning his reelection, and just weeks before he would be shot down by the cowardly John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln proclaimed in his Second Inaugural Address that the Civil War was God's way of affecting change upon the nation and ridding it of the scourge of slavery. The seeds for that address, one of the most famous and brilliant in American history, were being sown in the tumultuous month of September, 1862.

The Road to Antietam, July 22, 1862: "Thenceforward, and Forever, Be Free"

150 years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln introduced to his cabinet what would become the greatest presidential act in American history. The stage was being set for the Battle of Antietam to become not only a battle for military supremacy, but to be a battle for the future of freedom in the United States.

(Library of Congress)

Throughout his political career, Abraham Lincoln was opposed to the institution of slavery. A leading member of the nascent Republican Party, Lincoln campaigned on limiting the spread of slavery; yet, there was little he could do regarding slavery on a national level for most of his political life. Whether in the Illinois State Legislature, or during his one term in the United States Congress, Lincoln lacked the power or ability to affect change on slavery in any meaningful way. Illinois was a state with extremely harsh laws limiting rights and freedoms for free blacks, and Southern Illinois was quite similar to many Southern states when it came to attitudes on race and slavery. Yet, through the power of his rhetoric, Lincoln was able to craft a convincing argument that slavery was a moral wrong that undermined the legitimacy of the United States' claim to be a republic of liberty. In his famed Peoria, Illinois address of 1854, responding to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln proclaimed his hatred for both slavery and those who were indifferent to it: "This declared indifference, but, as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I can not but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world."

During the seventh of his famed debates with Senator Stephen Douglas in 1858, Lincoln culminated a series of arguments by making the case for the moral injustice of slavery and tyranny. Speaking of Chief Justice Roger Taney's opinion in the Dred Scott case, Lincoln declared that if slavery was a moral wrong, which he insisted it was, then owning slaves could not be considered a natural right from God.

But if it is a wrong, he cannot say people have a right to do wrong. He says that upon the score of equality, slaves should be allowed to go in a new Territory, like other property. This is strictly logical if there is no difference between it and other property. If it and other property are equal, his argument is entirely logical. But if you insist that one is wrong and the other right, there is no use to institute a comparison between right and wrong. You may turn over every thing in the Democratic policy from beginning to end, whether in the shape it takes on the statute book, in the shape it takes in the Dred Scott decision, in the shape it takes in conversation, or the shape it takes in short maxim—like arguments—it every where carefully excludes the idea that there is any thing wrong in it. That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles—right and wrong—throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn bread, and I’ll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

Four years after these debates, in 1862, Lincoln was the President of the United States, guiding the nation through a fiery trial of war, deciding whether the country would live or die. He was no longer a Congressman from Illinois; he was now the president, and thus, had more power to deal with the issue of slavery. Yet, under the Constitution, he was still limited in what he could do. As the casualties mounted, Lincoln sought a way to not only gain something of a military advantage, but to make a broader statement about the war itself. Lincoln could have stopped the bloodshed at any moment by simply allowing the Confederacy to go its separate way. Yet, he maintained the war, believing deeper issues to be at stake. He clearly saw a link between death on the battlefield and life for the nation; it was not enough for lives to be sacrificed just so that the country could continue on as it once was, a nation marred by the injustice of slavery, an institution rooted in moral wrong. For Lincoln, this bloodshed needed to lead to "a new birth of freedom."



On July 13, 1862, while on his way to a funeral for the son of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln struck up a conversation regarding the possibility of bringing emancipation into the Civil War with several of his cabinet members. Various Union generals had been dealing with slaves through martial edicts and policies, but these generally only applied to specific localities. Lincoln also found fault with them because, as he believed, such policy needed to be set at the national level so as to make sure it was in accordance with constitutional law and the policy of his administration. Congress had acted against slavery in other ways as well, passing the First Confiscation Act in 1861, and the Second Confiscation Act in July of 1862. These were meant to deal with those slaves who made their way to Federal lines, making it legal for commanders to bring them in and treat them like contraband property being seized in a war. Yet, on this summer morning carriage ride to a funeral, Lincoln stressed several times that a possible Emancipation Proclamation might be needed as a military necessity to turn the war around, inspiring the Union war effort with new life. Those officials who rode with Lincoln that July morning were not the only ones who sensed that the president was on the verge of a history altering policy. On July 20, 1862, one of Lincoln's private secretaries, John Hay, wrote in a letter, “… he will not conserve slavery much longer. When next he speaks in relation to this defiant and ungrateful villainy it will be with no uncertain sound.”



Two days after Hay wrote those words, Lincoln gathered his cabinet on July 22, 1862, 150 years ago today, to introduce a proclamation of emancipation, using his executive authority to free slaves in those states then in rebellion against the Federal government. As Lincoln later explained, "I said to the Cabinet that I had resolved upon this step, and had not called them together to ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a proclamation before them." The rough draft document he introduced that day is as follows, and can be found in the Library of Congress:

In pursuance of the sixth section of the act of congress entitled “An act to suppress insurrection and to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes” Approved July 17, 1862, and which act, and the Joint Resolution explanatory thereof, are herewith published, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim to, and warn all persons within the contemplation of said sixth section to cease participating in, aiding, countenancing, or abetting the existing rebellion, or any rebellion against the government of the United States, and to return to their proper allegiance to the United States, on pain of the forfeitures and seizures, as within and by said sixth section provided.

And I hereby make known that it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure for tendering pecuniary aid to the free choice or rejection, of any and all States which may then be recognizing and practically sustaining the authority of the United States, and which may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, gradual abolishment of slavery within such State or States—that the object is to practically restore, thenceforward to be maintain[ed], the constitutional relation between the general government, and each, and all the states, wherein that relation is now suspended, or disturbed; and that, for this object, the war, as it has been will be, prosecuted. And, as a fit and necessary military measure for effecting this object, I, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do order and declare that on the first day of January in the year of Our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and sixty three, all persons held as slaves within any state or states, wherein the constitutional authority of the United States shall not then be practically recognized, submitted to, and maintained, shall then, thenceforward, and forever, be free.

The statement began by referencing the recently passed Second Confiscation Act, which required an executive action for it to begin taking effect. That act provided for the seizure of property belonging to those in active rebellion against the Federal government. Lincoln at first believed that with that executive action, he would issue his proclamation, and the above text was designed to that purpose. Essentially, Lincoln at first believed this was a measure which would be issued within days, not months.

He began his second paragraph by referencing his attempts to bring about compensated emancipation, a plan aimed at pursuing the abolition of slavery while maintaining political support for his administration and the war in the Border States. This plan was a tough sell, as it not only would have cost a great deal, but was politically risky in many of these areas. He also included language that would apply such compensated emancipation to those states in rebellion, perhaps as an olive branch to bring about both and end to the fighting and pushing towards the abolition of slavery in a peaceful manner.

Lastly, in the above section italicized (done by me), Lincoln declared his intention to issue a military order under his power as Commander in Chief declaring all slaves in those states in rebellion on January 1, 1863, to "then, thenceforward, and forever, be free." In both of the Confiscation Acts, Congress had essentially declared that because of the war, Federal forces could legally seize Confederate property, including slaves. Now, Lincoln was going one step further. Under his authority as Commander in Chief, he was using his war powers to declare that all slaves held as Southern property (using Southern slavery arguments claiming that slaves were indeed property against slave owners) would be freed. This measure not only had obvious moral benefits of hammering at the foundations of slavery, but would provide a practical benefit of weakening the Southern power structure by removing a significant labor force, hurting the South politically, economically, and socially.


With those words, Lincoln effectively introduced the widest ranging executive measure in American history. The reaction of his Cabinet was somewhat mixed. Attorney General Edward Bates and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon Chase were the first to speak, and each was supportive, although Chase questioned the effectiveness of the measure, suggesting it could lead to retaliatory actions against slaves throughout the South. Montgomery Blair, the Postmaster General, objected to the proclamation, believing it would have a negative effect and cost Lincoln significant support in the fall Congressional elections.

It was Secretary of State William Seward, a long standing opponent of slavery, who offered the most significant comments in response to the proclamation. Believing that recent military setbacks on the Peninsula and in the Shenandoah Valley had a strong effect on the North, Seward reasoned, “The depression of the public mind, consequent upon our repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect of so important a step.” Thus, Seward suggested that issuing the proclamation following a string of defeats would smack of desperation, depriving the measure of its full impact. As Seward also argued, "It may be viewed as the last measure of an exhausted government, a cry for help...." It would be best, Seward noted, to wait for a Federal victory, only issuing the document once Lincoln could "give it to the country supported by military success" (Allen Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, 130-137).

While Lincoln began by announcing his intention to issue the proclamation one way or another, he never said anything about timing. Based on this cabinet meeting, as well as on a visit from Seward and Republican Thurlow Weed that evening, Lincoln decided that waiting for a victory was the best course of action. It would be a wait much longer than he ever intended. During his wait, thousands more would be added to the death toll of the war. Lincoln himself began to question God's purpose in the conflict. By September of 1862, Lincoln saw his opportunity to finally issue his proclamation. He would later explain that when Lee's army crossed the Potomac River to begin the Maryland Campaign, Lincoln made a promise to himself and to God that should the Confederate army be turned back, he would have the victory he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

On September 17, 1862, the Battle of Antietam would not just be fought as a military contest; it would be fought as a contest between the forces of freedom and slavery, determining the future of each in the United States. The stage was set for all of this 150 years ago today, on July 22, 1862.