Download 54_Emancipation proclamation

“He wanted to write something special.”
– Major Thomas Eckert
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To free or not to free that is the question!
“In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been
reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot
stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently
half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall but I do expect it
will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the
other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further
spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in
the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its
advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful
in all the States, old as well as new North as well as South.”
A. Lincoln
June 16, 1858
“I suggest that the difference of opinion, reduced to its lowest terms, is no
other than the difference between the men who think slavery a wrong and
those who do not think it wrong. The Republican party think it wrong – we
think it is a moral, a social, and a political wrong. We think it is a wrong not
confining itself merely to the persons or the States where it exists, but that it is
a wrong which in its tendency, to say the least, affects the existence of the
whole nation.”
“. . . there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the
Natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence -- the right to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to
these as the white man. I agree with Judge Douglas that he is not my equal in
many respects, certainly not in color -- perhaps not in intellectual and moral
endowments; but in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody
else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, and the equal of Judge
Douglas, and the equal of every living man.”
“Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern
States that by the accession of a Republican administration their
property and their peace and personal security are to be
endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for
such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the
contrary has all the while existed and been open to their
inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him
who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those
speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or
indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery where it
exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no
inclination to do so.“ Those who nominated and elected me did so
with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar
declarations, and had never recanted them.”
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union,
and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could
save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and
if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and
if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone
I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the
colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the
Union;”
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On July 13, 1862, Lincoln mentioned Emancipation to
both Secretaries Seward and Welles – “he had come to
the conclusion that we must free the slaves or be
ourselves subdued.”
Both were “startled because hitherto the President had
been emphatic in rejecting any proposal to have the
national government interfere with slavery.”
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Excerpts taken from Lincoln - Donald, David Herbert, page 362
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“that we had about played our last card (militarily), and
must change our tactics or lose the game!” – A. Lincoln
the Army of the Potomac had been demoralized and
both soldiers and officers needed a new course
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts told Lincoln fewer
volunteers would join the war effort if slavery was left
intact
* Excerpts taken from Lincoln - Donald, David Herbert, page 364
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Lincoln feared that arming blacks “would produce
dangerous and fatal dissatisfactions in our army,
and do more injury than good.”
Lincoln stated “that half the Army would lay down
their arms and three other (border) states would
join the rebellion.”
Under pressure from Western politicians, Lincoln
responded “Gentlemen, you have my decision. I
have made my mind up . . . and mean to adhere to
it . . . if the people are dissatisfied, I will resign and
let Mr. Hamlin try it.”
From left to right: Secretary of War Edward Stanton (seated), Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P.
Chase, President Lincoln, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Interior Caleb B.
Smith, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, Attorney General Edward Bates, Secretary of State
William Seward (seated in front of the table)
Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet discuss the Emancipation Proclamation
Library of Congress
“It had got to be midsummer, 1862. Things had gone on from bad
to worse, until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the
plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about
played our last card, and must change our tactics or lose the
game. I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation
policy; and without consultation with, or knowledge of, the cabinet,
I prepared the original draft of the proclamation, and after much
anxious thought called a cabinet meeting upon the subject . . . 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 subjectmatter of a proclamation before them, suggestions as to which
would be in order after they had heard it read.”
"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 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.”
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Secretary of State, Stanton, and the Attorney General, Bates,
called for the “immediate promulgation (enforcement)” of the
proclamation
Secretary of State, Chase, feared the proclamation might be “a
measure of danger” financially, but agreed to support the
proclamation
Postmaster, Blair, feared the “it (proclamation) would cost the
administration the fall elections” because it reversed Lincoln’s
pledge to leave slavery intact
Secretary of War, Seward, said it would “break up our relations
with foreign nations and the production of cotton for sixty years.”
In addition after the recent Union losses it would “be viewed as the
last measure of an exhausted government, a cry for help.”
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Now that you have read excerpts of some of Lincoln’s
speeches, his letter to Horace Greeley, and his
cabinet’s reaction to his Emancipation Proclamation,
what would you advise him to do?
Should Lincoln push ahead with his idea?
Would Emancipation improve the Union’s position or
worsen it during the Civil War?
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Write a letter to the President, dated July 25, 1862, a
few days after he shared the idea with you as a
member of the cabinet.
As a Secretary and trusted friend of the President,
what would your advice be regarding the idea of
Emancipation?
Use some of the information you have seen and read
to defend your position on the action the President
should take.
“I can only trust in God I have
made no mistake. It is now for
the country and the world to
pass judgment on it.”
A. Lincoln