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How President Lincoln Decided to Issue the Emancipation Proclamation
Author(s): James M. McPherson
Source: The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 37 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 108-109
Published by: The JBHE Foundation
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3134305
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How President Lincoln Decided to Issue The Emancipation Proclamation
by James M. McPherson
Editor's Note: On September17, 1862, near Sharpsburg,Maryland,23,000 young menfell dead or woundedin the battle of Antietam.
Here, the noted Princeton Universitycivil war historian James M. McPherson explains how AntietambroughtPresident Lincoln
to the decision to issue the EmancipationProclamation.
"
c
AM NATURALLYanti-slavery,"Lincoln insisted."If
slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong."Yet, "I have
thatthe Presidencyconferredupon
neverunderstood
me an unrestrictedright to act officially upon
this judgment and feeling." Because he had
no constitutionalpower to interferewith slavery in the states,and because he needed to retain the supportof border states and Democrats, Lincoln in the first year of the war repeatedly defined his policy as restorationof t
the Union - which of course meant a Union
with slavery.
From the beginning, however, abolitionists
and radicalRepublicansechoed the words of
black leader Frederick Douglass: "To fight
against slaveholders,without fighting against
slavery,is but a half-heartedbusiness.Warfor
the destructionof liberty must be met with war for the destructionof slavery."More and more Republicans- eventually including Lincoln - came to agree with this idea as
the war ground on. They took note of southernboasts that
slavery was a "tower of strength to the Confederacy"because slaves did most of the laborin the South, thus enabling
Confederates"to place in the field a force so much largerin
proportionto her [white] populationthan the North."Douglass declaredthathe could not understand"Why?Oh! why
in the name of all that is national, does our Government
allow its enemies this powerful advantage?The very stomach of the rebellion is the Negro in the condition of a slave.
Arrestthat hoe in the hands of the Negro, and you smite rebellion in the very seat of its life."
Slave laborwas so importantin Confederatearmiesas well
as on the home front that the governmentimpressed slaves
into service before it began draftingwhite men as soldiers.
Thousands of slaves worked as army laborers, teamsters,
James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis Professor of History at
0
sa Princeton
University. This article is adapted from his new book, Cross3
roads of Freedom- Antietam:The Battle That Changedthe Course of the
Civil War(OxfordUniversityPress, 2002). Copyright? 2002 by James M.
o
McPherson.Used by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
108
cooks, musicians, servants,and in other supportcapacities.
They providedmuch of the logistical "tail"of these armies
(functionsinitiallyperformedby white soldiersand civilians
in Union armies) and therebyfreed a high proportionof Confederatesoldiersfor combatduty.
As time passed, more and more Yankeesbegan
asking: Why not convert this southernasset of
black laborinto a northernasset by confiscating
slaves as enemy property,freeing them, and
- ^b
puttingthem to work for the Union?
(Sil;?~?!1i:i Five days after the battle of Antietamin September 1862, Lincoln called a special meeting
of the Cabinet. He remindedmembers of their
decision two months earlier to postpone issuance of an emancipation proclamation. "I
thinkthe time has come now,"the presidentcontinued."Iwish it was a bettertime. The actionof
the army againstthe rebels has not been quite what I should
have best liked. But they have been drivenout of Maryland."
When the enemy was at Frederick,Lincoln had made a
"promiseto myself and (hesitatinga little)to my Maker"that
"if God gave us the victory in the approachingbattle, [I]
would consider it an indicationof Divine will" in favor of
emancipation.Lincoln suggested that Antietam was God's
sign that "he had decided this question in favor of the
slaves."Therefore,said the president,he intendedthatday to
issue the proclamationwarning Confederatestates that unless they returnedto the Union by January 1, 1863, their
slaves "shallbe then, thenceforward,and foreverfree."
Perhapsno consequence of Antietam was more momentous than this one. It changed the characterof the war, as
General-in-Chief Halleck noted in a communication to
Ulysses S. Grant:"Thereis now no possible hope of reconciliation. We must conquer the rebels or be conqueredby
them. Every slave withdrawnfrom the enemy is the equivalent of a white man put hors de combat."The proclamation
would apply only to states in rebellion, which produced
some confusion because it thus seemed to "liberate"those
slaves who were mostly beyond Union authoritywhile leav-
AUTUMN 2002
. ____. __oWashington
to_over
X
ing in bondagethose in the borderstates.This apparent
amongsome abolitionists
anomalycauseddisappointment
andradicalRepublicans.
But mostof themrecognizedthat
the commander-in-chief's
legal powersextendedonly to
of
that
Some
however,wouldbe
enemyproperty.
"property,"
freedby the Proclamation
or by the practicalforcesof war
of conbecausethousands
trabandsin Confederate
stateswerealreadywithin Union lines.
And in any event, the
symbolic power of the
Proclamation changedthe war from one to restorethe Unioninto one
to destroythe old Union
and build a new one
purged of human bondage."GodBless Abraham Lincoln!"blazoned
Horace Greeley's New
?:
the Potomac.Therewas good reasonfor worryaboutthis.
GeneralFitz-JohnPorterbrandedLincoln'sdocument"the
of a politicalcoward."It has "caused
absurdproclamation
disgustandexpressionsof disloyalty,to theviewsof theadin thearmy,wrotePorterprivately.
McClellan
ministration"
"infamous"
and told
himselfconsideredthe Proclamation
his wife thathe could
not"makeupmy mind
to fightfor suchan accursed
Polato -ce pul,
. doctrineas that
.
",'
'---: ,~:'T'~
'-g;.:i.of
a servile insurrec-
.
'
|
F
~
X
\te/
i
i
/
~:,j~~
pX
YorkTribuneon September 23. "It is the begin-
-%
--ill7
7
ningof the end of therebellion; the beginning of
the new life of the nation." The Emancipation
tionProclamation
In 1862,aftera draftof theEmaJ
becanepublic,
ncipat
Lincolnplayingtheriace
a Britishpoliticalcartoonistsholwed IDresident
card in what was called a d esperiateattemptto save the Union
states.ssued
byfosteringa slaverebellionin the Confederate
Proclamation"is one of
thosestupendousfacts in humanhistorywhichmarksnot
onlyanerain theprogressof thenation,butanepochin the
historyof the world."Speakingfor AfricanAmericans,
Frederick
Douglassdeclared,"Weshoutforjoy thatwe live
to recordthisrighteousdecree."
denouncedthe ProclamaDemocratsalmostunanimously
tion andvowed to campaignagainstit in the fall congressional elections.Many border-stateUnionistsalso complainedloudly.Lincolnhadalreadydiscountedthisopposition,whichhadonceconcernedhimso greatly.He hadtried
in vainto get theborderstatesto movevoluntarily,
butnow
without
"we mustmakethe forwardmovement"
them,he
toldtheCabinet."They[will]acquiesce,if notimmediately,
soon."As for the Democrats,"theirclubs wouldbe used
againstus takewhatcoursewe might."
Moreserious,perhaps,was the potentialfor oppositionin
officersin theArmyof
thearmy,especiallyby McClellanite
AUTUMN 2002
tion."GeneralMcClel-
,cl
.. "
"to submitto thePresiC d dent'sproclamationand
/ quietly continue doing
my duty as a soldier."
He even took action to
loose talkamong
~quiet
some of his subordir_ nates about marching
onWashington
to over-
~
throw the government.
On October7 McClel-
lan issued a general
a general
order reminding the
"Theremearmyof its dutyof obedienceto civil authority.
he
if
are
for
dy politicalerrors, any committed," notedin a
referenceto theforthcoming
none-too-subtle
elections,"isto
the
in
the
action
of
the
at
be found
people
polls."
Theissueof emancipation
wouldcontinue- attimesdangerously- to dividethe armyandthe northernpublicfor
anothersix monthsor more.But in the end,as the Springfield (Mass.)Republicanpredictedon September24, 1862,
it would"besustainedby thegreatmassof theloyalpeople."
Thesewerethepeoplewho agreedwithLincoln'swordsin
his messageto Congresson December1, 1862:"Without
slaverytherebellioncouldneverhaveexisted;withoutslavTheSpringfieldRepublican
proved
eryit couldnotcontinue."
that"bythecourageandpruto be rightwhenit anticipated
thegreatestsocialandpoliticalrevodenceof thePresident,
will
be
carriedthroughin the
lutionof theage
triumphantly
midstof a civil war."
109