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“He wanted to write something special.” – Major Thomas Eckert – 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;” 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.” * Excerpts taken from Lincoln - Donald, David Herbert, page 362 “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 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.” 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.” 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? 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