Questions to keep in mind while reading:
- What was the political climate of the time?
- What was Lincoln's main conscern?
- Who was Lincoln catering to?
- Could Lincoln have done anything different?
Background on the Emancipation Proclamation
(from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2967.html)
In his inaugural address, delivered on March 4, 1861, Lincoln
proclaimed that it was his duty to maintain the Union. He also
declared that he had no intention of ending slavery where it existed, or of repealing the Fugitive Slave Law – a position that horrified African Americans and their white allies.To retain the loyalty of the border states – Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri – President Lincoln insisted that the war was not about slavery or black rights; it was a war to preserve the Union. His words were not simply aimed at the loyal southern states, however – most white northerners were not interested in fighting to free slaves or in giving rights to black people. For this reason, the government turned away African American volunteers who rushed to enlist. Lincoln upheld the laws barring blacks from the army, proving to northern whites that their race privilege would not be threatened.The federal government had a harder time deciding what to do about escaping slaves. As the northern army pushed southward, thousands of fugitives fled across Union lines. Because there was no consistent federal policy regarding fugitives, individual commanders made their own decisions. Some put them to work for the Union forces; others wanted to return them to their owners. Finally, on August 6, 1861, fugitive slaves were declared to be "contraband of war" if their labor had been used to help the Confederacy in any way. And if found to be contraband, they were declared free.
Though "contraband" slaves had been declared free, Lincoln
continued to insist that this was a war to save the Union, not to free slaves. But by 1862, Lincoln was considering emancipation as a necessary step toward winning the war. The South was using enslaved people to aid the war effort. Black men and women were forced to build fortifications, work as blacksmiths, nurses, boatmen, and laundresses, and to work in factories, hospitals, and armories. In the meantime, the North was refusing to accept the services of black volunteers and freed slaves, the very people who most wanted to defeat the slaveholders.
Document B: Frederick Douglass (ORIGINAL) `It was when General Grant was fighting his way through the Wilderness to Richmond ... that President Lincoln did me the honor to invite me to the Executive Mansion for a conference on the situation.... The main subject on which he wished to confer with me was as to the means most desirable to be employed outside the army to induce the slaves in the rebel states to come within the federal lines. The increasing opposition to the war, in the North, and the mad cry against it, because it was being made an abolition war , alarmed Mr. Lincoln, and made him apprehensive that a peace might be forced upon him which would leave still in slavery all who had not come within our lines. What he wanted was to make his proclamation as effective as possible in the event of such a peace. He said, in a regretful tone, `The slaves are not coming so rapidly and so numerously to us as I had hoped.' I replied that the slaveholders knew how to keep such things from their slaves, and probably very few knew of his proclamation. `Well,' he said, `I want you to set about devising some means of making them acquainted with it, and for bringing them into our lines.' He spoke with great earnestness and much solicitude .... He said he was being accused of protracting the war beyond its legitimate object and of failing to make peace when he might have done so to advantage. He was afraid of what might come of all these complaints, but was persuaded that no solid and lasting peace could come short of absolute submission on the part of the rebels, and he was not for giving them rest by futile conferences with unauthorized persons, at Niagara Falls, or elsewhere. He saw the danger of premature peace, and, like a thoughtful and sagacious man as he was, wished to provide means of rendering such consummation as harmless as possible. I was the more impressed by this benevolent consideration because he before said, in answer to the peace clamor, that his object was to save the Union, and to do so with or without slavery. What he said on this day showed a deeper moral conviction against slavery than I had ever seen before in anything spoken or written by him. I listened with the deepest interest and profoundest satisfaction, and, at his suggestion, agreed to undertake the organizing of a band of scouts, composed of colored men, whose business should be ... to go into the rebel states, beyond the lines of our armies, and carry the news of emancipation, and urge the slaves to come within our boundaries....
Document A: The Emancipation Proclamation (ORIGINAL)
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 the 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. John, 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 and 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.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
After reading the Emancipation Proclemation answer the following:
- Who did it effect? Why did it effect those that it did and why didn't it effect those it didn't?
- Do you think Lincoln was working more as a politicion to save the Union or was he an abolitionist trying to get rid of slavery? Support your answers with quotes from the text.
- Why do you believe Lincoln says "I recommend to them [slaves] that , in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages"?
- Why doesn't Lincoln free slaves in the North and non-confederate slave regions?
For more information on the Emancipation Proclemation follow this link.
Document A: The Emancipation Proclamation (Modified)
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 in rebellion against the United
States, shall be forever free. . .Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commanderin-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States. . .do order and designate [appoint] the following States as being in rebellion: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.
And I hereby call upon the people so declared to be free to
abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense;
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
will be received into the armed service of the United States.
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.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
This text has been modified to allow you to understand the key concepts of the Emancipation Proclamation. Much of the buerocratic language has been removed and only the most important information remains.
Document B: Frederick Douglass (Modified)
President Lincoln did me the honor to invite me to discuss
the best way to [persuade] the slaves in the rebel states to
escape. Lincoln was alarmed about the increasing
opposition to the war in the North, and the mad cry against it
being an abolition war. Lincoln worried that [Northerners who
opposed the war would force him to accept an early peace]
which would leave all those who had not escaped in slavery.
I was impressed by this kind consideration because before
he had said that his goal was to save the Union, with or
without slavery. What he said on this day showed a deeper
moral conviction against slavery than I had ever seen before
in anything spoken or written by him. I listened with the
deepest interest and profoundest satisfaction, and, at his
suggestion, agreed to organize men who would go into the
rebel states, and carry the news of emancipation, and urge
the slaves to come within our boundaries....
I refer to this conversation because I think that, on Mr.
Lincoln's part, it is evidence that the proclamation, so far at
least as he was concerned, was not passed merely as a
`necessity.'
Source: In mid-1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation had been announced, President Lincoln called Frederick Douglass to the White House to speak with him. Douglass wrote about the meeting in 1881 in The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.
Guiding Questions Name________________
Document A: Emancipation Proclamation
1. The Civil War ended in 1865. Why did Lincoln decide to free the slaves before the war even ended?
2. In the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln does not mention Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. These states had slaves but were not part of the Confederacy (they were not fighting against the Union). What happens to the slaves
in these states?
3. Why do you think he calls the act a “military necessity” in the last section?
Document B: Frederick Douglass
1. According to Douglass, what was happening in the North in 1863?
2. What was Lincoln worried about?
3. What is Douglass’s conclusion about Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation?
4. Douglass wrote about his meeting with Lincoln almost 20 years later. How might the passage of time affect Douglass’s memory of Lincoln and his evaluation of the
Emancipation Proclamation?
Did Lincoln free the slaves?Or did the slaves free themselves?
Evidence that Lincoln freed the slaves:
Evidence that the slaves freed themsleves: