Emancipation Proclamation

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This controversial executive order freed approximately four million African-American slaves in Confederate territory. The proclamation ended the ownership of slaves and was a major turning point in the Civil War, which eventually led to its end. The Confederacy and Union were at war with each other which, spanned from 1861 to 1865. The Confederacy wanted its independence from the Union because they wanted to keep the peculiar institution, or slavery. Northern parties that sided with the Union, including Radical Republicans and free-soilers, wanted the abolition of slavery, which opposed the ideas of the South. On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This document foreshadowed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was released on January 1, 1863. The doctrine freed slaves in all seceded states and territories including: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the following: 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… And by virtue of the power… I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within [Confederate] States, and [Confederate] 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.1 The proclamation applied only to the Confederate controlled territories who were in rebellion against the Union. The border states of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri were all exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation. These were slave states that were still in allegiance with the Union. Guelzo says, “Any move toward emancipation could easily drive the four [border] states… into secession, and thus make any hope of suppressing the Confederacy vanishingly small” (Guelzo 94). If the border states had switched to the other side, the Union would have lost a huge labor force, soldiers, tax revenue, and most likely the war. Abraham Lincoln’s primary goal was to save the Union. He was morally against slavery but as a president and chief executive, his main purpose was to execute laws and keep a stable and orderly country. Lincoln replies to Horace Mann with a message stated: I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be ‘the Union as it was. ’If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or 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… I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men, every where could be free.2 Lincoln had put the state of the Union before his personal desire to free the slaves. Slaves were considered to be chattel or property, however, Lincoln addresses them as humans of a different race. Lincoln’s standpoint on slavery was subordinate to the prosperity of the nation, which is the main goal of the president. Slaves began to acquire feelings of pity and sympathy when Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written in 1850. Author Frank B. Latham noted, “Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin fired up opposition to slavery in the North” along with what Lincoln had stated, “A universal feeling [for slaves], whether well or ill-founded, can not safely be disregarded”. Lincoln addresses the human side to the ill-named chattel that had rarely been discussed, as to prevent taking to one party or side, which would lessen popularity. Lincoln was intrinsically opposed to slavery, although, he submitted to the notion of stopping its spread. Lincoln said in his First Inaugural Address, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so”(actual eman proc). Lincoln believed that he had no right to change the southerners’ way of life and culture, even though he disagreed with slavery on a moral level. President Abraham Lincoln shared economic abolitionist views with the free-soil party. The party believed that free men on free soil is better for the economy than slavery. Slavery posed a threat to White laborers. The free-soilers wanted to emancipate the slaves because they were taking up labor occupations that could be provided to the poor White citizens of the United States in places such as plantations and factories. The poor Whites of New England and the North wanted Kansas and Nebraska as free states so they could move there and “better their condition” (Latham 9-10). The free-soil movement further contributed to tensions between the North and South. Southerners felt that their wanting slavery was even more so threatened due to the free-soilers. Abraham Lincoln was a Radical Republican that wanted to end slavery gradually, as opposed to an abrupt approach to abolition. Lincoln’s preferred tactic would have included slave owners being compensated for their cooperation of gradual emancipation of slaves. (Latham 11). Radical Republicans did not agree to this and pushed for a Confiscation Act, declaring that slaves that served in the military would be immediately freed, was passed by Congress in 1861. This was not enough and they then pushed for the Second Confiscation Act ( Latham 31- 33). The second Confiscation act was very similar to the Emancipation Proclamation, only more immediate. It called for the emancipation of slaves in the seceded and Confederate states, only without a preliminary announcement to prepare the public for the change. The Second Confiscation Act was not highly enforced, which gave way for gradual emancipation. Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation with the motive to preserve the Union and end the war, not to end slavery as the main cause. The British, previous to the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, were allied with the Confederacy but soon switched sides. The British abolished slavery in 1833, decades before the United States did, which caused them to stray away from the Confederate side of the war. Six thousand workers in Manchester declared, “The Erasure of that foul blot upon civilization and Christianity, chattel slavery, during your Presidency will cause the name of Abraham Lincoln to be honored and revered by posterity” (Latham 39). The abolition of slavery in the United States was favored by European powers and further weakened the stance of the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln wanted to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation but was deterred. According to Guelzo, “Secretary of State William Henry Seward (1801– 1872) persuaded Lincoln to suspend any action for the moment. The federal forces were reeling from a series of defeats, and Seward warned that issuing a proclamation at that moment would appear as a counsel of despair” (Guelzo 95). If Lincoln had issued the proclamation before winning a battle, the British and Confederates would have seen it as an act of pure desperation. Lincoln had heeded the Secretary of State’s words and waited until a win at Antietam in Maryland on September 17, 1862. President Lincoln then issued the document five days later that would in a few months lead to the Emancipation Proclamation. Pro-slavery southerners disagreed with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The Confederacy did not see slaves as human beings, only as a personal possession, which strengthened their belief that slaves were excluded from the constitution altogether. According to the newspaper the Southern Aegis, and the Harford County Intelligencer, “The negro is not equal, in intelligence, or in any manner, to the white man” (Bateman 2). This condescending outlook on slaves was depicted in a public article without any evidence to back up the shallow argument. Since slaves could not receive a proper education, they did not have the same opportunities than whites who were free and could study and, therefore, had the ability to better themselves. The pro-slavery southerners only wanted to maintain power over another race, along with this came illogical and unsubstantiated claims without substance. Confederates thought that slaves were destined to be enslaved by Americans, as this is what God wanted. Bateman said, “But it appears God designed the negro to be brought to this country, in slavery, so that he should be civilized and Christianized… Do you know why the negro can labor in the South, or hot climate, and a white man cannot? The reason is very obvious… hence the white man, from oppressive heat, will die, and the [negro] survives under labor in a hot climate” (Bateman 2). The pro-slavery Southerners did not think they were stealing humans from their native countries just to enslave and put them to labor. They had believed that a slave’s purpose was to be the property of the white man and that only they could fulfill the arduous tasks of labor in the heat. The Confederates thought they were doing a service for the slaves by enslaving them. According to Bateman, if a slave migrates North then he or she will die of congestive disease because of the pores of his or her skin will be “closed by the action of cold upon the surface of his [or her] body, which determines the blood to the organs,” (Bateman 2). Bateman argues that a slave’s weakness to disease and cold will kill him or her and that freeing them will also kill them. Fire-Eaters in the South, such as Bateman, had false demonstrations of slave comfort. They thought they were saving lives, religiously and literally. According to the Southern Aegis, and the Harford County Intelligencer, “It is all nonsense for Mr. Lincoln and his abolition friends-indeed, I think it is cruel, and against the providence of God - for them to attempt to free the negroes of the South by war on the South, as the [negro] was happy in his condition before the Abolitionist disturbed his repose” (Bateman 2). This accusation towards President Lincoln and abolitionists is baseless and serves the Confederates’ own purposes. Slaves were treated poorly, having to work under harsh conditions with long hours. “Perhaps [the] most common punishment was the whip. [slave masters] might lick the back of a slow-moving harvester, or take aside a slave who talked back to him. But for the more serious punishments, the whipping became a public demonstration of cruelty and power… Collars, metal masks, and other such devices were far from uncommon. One common device featured a neck collar with inward-pointing spikes that prevented the victim from lying down and resting his or her head… Violence and the threat of death were the essential elements of the commoditization and enslavement of people… Mosquitoes were not just pests; they were vectors of malaria and other tropical diseases, and they represented one of the greatest challenges to keeping slaves alive long enough to make a profit from their labor. The heat in the summer months was unrelenting, and the swamps made the environment particularly dangerous. Many slaves fell prey to tropical disease. For much of the year, mosquitoes made being outdoors unbearable… Sugar plantations were deadly places” (Rasmussen 1). Multiple inflictions of pain and suffering were a part of daily life for a slave during their enslavement. Many slaves died at the hands of their masters in acts of torture and violence. The facade that the southerners were presenting held a deeper evil and human indecency that a slave would not consider “happy in his condition” (Bateman 2). Southern Fire-Eaters thought the Emancipation Proclamation would have represented the official turning point for the motion for independence. The New York Herald writer James Bennett described it as the “death warrant of the Union, and its consequences will be not less disastrous to himself and his administration than to the people, whose ruin this document seems fated to insure” (Bennett 4). This newspaper was published a day before the proclamation was implemented. The angst throughout the United States was ever growing during the Civil War because of the uncertainty the Emancipation Proclamation would bring. Even President Abraham Lincoln did not know what the future held, and he was the one proclaiming the emancipation of slaves in Confederate territories. When Lincoln was signing the Emancipation Proclamation, his hand was trembling, which was seen as trepidation and hesitation, although, he insisted it was because of handshaking and making calls (Latham 1-2). The uncontrollable shaking of President Lincoln’s hands could have been seen as hesitation or nervousness because it was a highly controversial situation. According to the “Alexandria Gazette” writer Edgar Snowden, “The President’s Emancipation Proclamation would seem to be, to a certain degree, anticipated by these foreign writers. The London Times treats it as a brutum fulmen, but the Morning Star, a journal of strong Anti-Slavery leanings, thinks it will have a telling effect against the rebels” (Snowden 3). One credible newspaper and a credible journal have two completely different perspectives on the consequences of the Emancipation Proclamation. The London Times thought of the Emancipation Proclamation as an empty or ineffective threat without it being enforced, while the Morning Star thought it would lead an end to the Confederate motion towards independence. Slavery’s abolition, the Civil War’s end, and the Confederation’s independence were all uncertain variables in this struggle for peace, whether accomplished by emancipation or independence. The Emancipation Proclamation resulted in occupational changes throughout the United States. After the slaves were freed, they had the ability to move from state to state, working in the North and in the South. When the freed slaves migrated North, they were recruited as soldiers to fight with the Union against the Confederacy. Thousands of slaves flooded into Union states and attempted to take jobs of their own, causing the New York City draft riots. According to Frank B. Latham, “On July 13, a mob wrecked and then burned a draft office in New York City. Then it beat off police and raged through the city, growing larger hour after hour. Yelling, ‘To hell with the draft and the war,’ men hunted down and hanged Negroes and burned dozens of buildings. Estimates of the loss of life varied widely, ranging from 100 to 1,000 killed and 1,000 to 8,000 injured” (Latham 4647). The Whites of the Union did not want to give up their jobs to newly freed slaves, so the fearful Whites lynched the African-Americans. This outburst of the Northerners, other than unjustly killing dozens, had no effect on the enlistment of slaves in the military, as more than 300,000 African-Americans had joined the Union army by the end of the Civil War (Latham 51). The Emancipation Proclamation begot legal transformations in the Constitution. The proclamation, which initially only applied to seceded states, was eventually applicable to the entire nation under the Constitution,. This resulted in the 13th amendment, which was ratified in 1865. George P. Fletcher says, “white slavery had already disappeared without explicit abolition… various other legal measures— including the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 and postbellum state legal reforms— had effectively abolished slavery everywhere except the border states of Missouri, Kentucky and Delaware, and the areas occupied by Union troops on January 1, 1863” (Fletcher 1). For full equality of the nation and states, the emancipation of slaves had to encompass the United States of America, not just the Confederate states. The 13th amendment protected the rights of all races in addition to slaves, as to prevent the question of equality of all peoples from arising again. The Emancipation Proclamation was based on moral, political and social, and economic prospects. Morally, abolitionists, including President Abraham Lincoln, felt sympathy and pity for slaves in Confederate chains. Politically and socially, Abraham Lincoln’s perspective on slavery gained popularity from the British, who abolished slavery before the United States, and the free-soilers and Radical Republicans. Economically, Lincoln and the free-soilers wanted emancipation because the slaves were taking up jobs that the poor White workers, such as Irishmen, needed to survive and to acquire basic needs. The proclamation resulted in four million Confederate slaves being freed. Millions of African-Americans were moving to different states and dispersing throughout the United States. The abolition of slavery resulted in occupational changes along with the 13th amendment. Slaves enlisted in the military for the Union caused a severe power imbalance, hindering the Confederate chances of winning the Civil War. The 13th amendment officially freed all slaves in the United States, including the border states. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the history of the United States. It was issued as a war measure to the rebelling Confederate states during the Civil War. The proclamation ordered the emancipation of slaves in the Confederate States. The Proclamation changed the outcome of the war. Maintaining the Union was not the only goal. Freeing the slaves was made an important goal during the war. It was the start to combating injustice and the start of a promise on civil liberties to a once oppressed and enslaved people. A pure democratic society that is based on basic freedoms for its people cannot thrive without equal rights for all of its citizens.