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You could not be signed in. Sign In Forgot password? Don't have an account? American Historical Association members Sign in via society site. Eventually, the War Department made it a criminal offense for Union soldiers to assist the rebels in recovering their slaves. Some Union soldiers did whatever they could to aid these refugees, while others took them on as servants or abused them verbally, physically, and sexually.
Guelzo explores what effect the proclamation had on the union, the Confederacy, free blacks, slaves, the international community, and the conduct of the war. Critics have long repeated the myth that the Proclamation did not free a single slave because it applied only to areas the Union did not control and exempted areas occupied by Union forces. But those areas had to be excluded in order to sustain the argument that military necessity demanded emancipation: Dec 15, John Young rated it it was amazing.
This is perhaps the best book I have ever read about the Civil War era. Sandburg's books on Lincoln were excellent, and Shelby Foote's books on the Civil War were great for their breadth and military content. However, this book by Allen Guelzo provides a detailed discussion of the end of slavery and arguments about its constitutionality, moral aspects, legal aspects, and how Lincoln responded to all of the criticisms from all of these viewpoints.
It also provides more insights into Lincoln's per This is perhaps the best book I have ever read about the Civil War era. It also provides more insights into Lincoln's personality than most books, and shows some very vivid reactions of enslaved people to the Emancipation Proclamation. Apr 08, R. Byers rated it it was amazing. Jan 12, Erika rated it it was amazing. This book was a very good read and its a good read for anyone interested in Lincoln and the politics in play during the civil war. Very eye opening for me. Wading into the argument of Lincoln's Emancipation proclamation, noted Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo [1] seeks to place this most notable and prosaic of Lincoln's pronouncements into a sound historical context and manages to do so.
In the process, he reveals the tension between Lincoln's words and deeds, and the way that slavery was ended in the United States [2] and the long-term consequences and repercussions of the choices that Lincoln made and refused to make. Throughout the book, the autho Wading into the argument of Lincoln's Emancipation proclamation, noted Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo [1] seeks to place this most notable and prosaic of Lincoln's pronouncements into a sound historical context and manages to do so.
Throughout the book, the author shows Lincoln to have been motivated by a strong sense of prudence and pragmatism of an enlightened kind that was deeply concerned not with appealing to grand heroic gestures and soaring prose, but to making meaningful and lasting change, ultimately to end slavery in the United States in a way that would do the most good as possible and the least harm to society as for. To our age prudential morality and prudence in general is not viewed in a particularly noble light, but Lincoln's prudence was well-founded and the author validates the approach of the Emancipation Proclamation through the perspective of history.
As is frequently the case, this particular book is written in chronological order and takes about pages to cover five reasonably long chapters and a short post-script. After a lengthy and eloquent acknowledgements section and an introduction that questions the harsh criticism the language of the Emancipation Proclamation has endured over the course of the 20th century and places Lincoln firmly in the place of a rational Enlightenment political philosopher, the author digs deeply into both the text and context of the Emancipation Proclamation. First showing the four possible routes to freedom for enslaved blacks, the author makes a strong defense of Lincoln's approach given his fears of military coups and his well-placed mistrust in the courts.
Later chapters show the delicate process by which Lincoln prepared the nation for the Emancipation Proclamation and showed himself to be an instrument in God's hands, if an often misunderstood one. The author then notes the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in serving as an encouragement to slave states to engage in gradual and compensated emancipation, which was not a very popular proposition and notes the increasing despair in which many blacks feel about the United States and their resulting negativity towards Lincoln himself.
This book has a lot to say about the Emancipation Proclamation and is an essential book for those wishing to know the document and its importance better. The author makes a convincing case that Lincoln sacrificed his usual gift for eloquence in order to attempt to make a declaration that would be as immune as possible to legal challenges while the Civil War was ongoing. His mistrust of the legislative solution to slavery in light of probable court challenges was shown to be reasonable in light of the dismal record of the Reconstruction and Guilded Age Supreme Court in defending the rights of freedmen.
Without seeking to pander to contemporary progressives, a common fault among people who write about Lincoln and his behavior towards slavery, the author gives a sound historical argument that demonstrates Lincoln's political savvy as well as his unusual but distinctive view on justice and the way it can best be approximated in this fallen world.
For those who want to understand how a prosaic and seemingly mundane piece of writing that dramatically and decisively increased the scope of Union war aims and brought blacks en masse into the United States military and made their civil rights a matter of national honor and moral debt, this book is an excellent volume.
Mar 24, Tonja rated it liked it. Is the academic world in need of yet another book on Abraham Lincoln? Well-known Lincoln scholar Allen C. Guelzo makes a convincing argument for his revisionist interpretation, one that is more congruous with Lincoln the man than previously historians have offered. However, along the way, he diminishes the importance of his revised view of the man and his Proclamation by invoking Providence as a key player in the enactment. Although timid at first, Guelzo shows Lincoln becoming more comfortable in his position as president and freely exercising his muscle through the war powers of the Commander-in-Chief.
Guelzo comments that the worst thing for an opponent to do with Lincoln was to underestimate him because of his simple outward appearance and manner. Despite his political genius, however, Lincoln was not able to forward any of his gradual emancipation strategies with border states, Congress, and the general population.
In doing so, Lincoln becomes more identifiable as a man and the reader appreciates his perseverance in achieving his goal. He explains that risk and prudence are not mutually exclusive, but rather, a studied gamble is an acceptable part of prudence. Perhaps Guelzo believes the story is the prudent and providential work leading up to and including its release, not the post-script of its proclamation.
Yet when presented with the opportunity, through Prudence or through Providence Guelzo does not adequately resolve, Lincoln made good on his deep commitment, whether to himself or to God, to end slavery quickly with a single war power Proclamation. Aug 04, Brian Anton rated it it was amazing. Guelzo and published in In the book, he argues that President Abraham Lincoln, through the use of the Emancipation Proclamation of , was effective in freeing the slaves.
His argument differs from others that have examined the argument pertaining to the Emancipation Proclamation and whether it did, or did not, effectively emancipate slaves during the Civil War. Therefore, those slave states that were not formally in rebellion to the United States did not have to free their slaves because of the Proclamation leaving millions of them in involuntary servitude.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, by Allen C. Guelzo
Because of the differing viewpoint of others, Guelzo offers a significant contribution to the field of study pertaining to Lincoln, slavery, and the Civil War. According to the author, Lincoln thought that slavery was wrong but needed to wait until the proper time to take the first strike against the institution.
He also knew that when he decided to take action it would be a huge political gamble. For that reason, he favored voluntary gradual abolition with just compensation for the slaves as property. The book outlines the problems that he faced while pushing for that cause, mostly because of the lack of state support. Lincoln saw slavery as the next step in the progress of the United States.
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The first of the four questions, he explains comes from Richard Hofstadter who asked, why is the language of the Proclamation so bland and legalistic? Guelzo argues that Lincoln left it that way because it needed to be legalistic and had to stand up in front of the Supreme Court. It could not be wordy and eloquent simply because it was in fact a piece of legislation.
The second question, is the most important pertaining to the argument at hand: Guelzo argues that it did and points out the argument of those on the other side. Although Lincoln was not responsible for freeing all of the slaves, he was responsible for taking the first step in their emancipation. As proof for his argument, he points out that no slave freed by the Proclamation ever returned to slavery. The third argument pertaining to the Proclamation pertains to whether or not the slaves freed themselves. According the law, if they could travel successfully to a state in the Union, they would become free.
Therefore, the only way that they could attain freedom was by making the troublesome and dangerous journey to the North. Lincoln did not free anybody based on the document but only those who were able to travel to the North successfully.
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No slave was freed immediately based on the Proclamation but had to earn it. The final, less related argument that Guelzo addresses is the thought that Lincoln issued the Proclamation to keep European countries from intervening in the war or to inflate the morale of the Union who took huge losses in the months prior to its inception.
The author argues against that the Proclamation could have easily forced the hand of European intervention, an assumption and weakness of the book. In regard to morale, he points out that many believed, along with Lincoln, that fighting against slavery was moralistically correct and would put the higher being on their side, creating a moralistic cause for the Union soldiers. Therefore, if morale were the primary justification for the order, he would have done it sooner.
He is applauded from some because of his examination of The Emancipation Proclamation in a more conclusive light than seen before and because he uses primary sources to prove his points. His viewpoint is currently unique because many question whether Lincoln actually pushed for the country to move quickly toward the abolition of slavery or not, most see him as regressive instead of progressive in though on the subject. With those positives though, others are critical of his work because of his stance and approach in other ways.
Guelzo is criticized repeatedly by reviewers for his explanation that Lincoln had abolition in mind from the onset and was prudent in his push for that cause. They point out that Lincoln said the opposite in speeches previous to the Proclamation and claim that Guelzo, by lack of coincidence, ignored those statements. Overall, Guelzo offers a good argument for his thesis that the Emancipation Proclamation was a bold step taken by a bold and prudent president who was filled with the ideas of the Enlightenment.
The book is well-written and is easy to follow. He had to know that he was moving the country forward when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation and effectively took the first step toward the end of slavery in the United States. His actions would later be justified with later congressional action and amendment to the Constitution that effectively ended slavery permanently.
If not for the Civil War, Lincoln probably would not have had the support that would have allowed it to be accepted but the fact that he took executive action in that critical time should be noted. Moreover, the Republicans picked up five seats in the Senate.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America
The initial Confederate response was one of expected outrage. The Proclamation was seen as vindication for the rebellion, and proof that Lincoln would have abolished slavery even if the states had remained in the Union. Army general Ulysses S. Grant observed that the Proclamation, combined with the usage of black soldiers by the U. Army, profoundly angered the Confederacy, saying that "the emancipation of the Negro, is the heaviest blow yet given the Confederacy.
The South rave a great deal about it and profess to be very angry. The Confederacy stated that the black U. Less than a year after the law's passage, the Confederates massacred black U. However, some Confederates welcomed the Proclamation, as they believed it would strengthen pro-slavery sentiment in the Confederacy and, thus, lead to greater enlistment of white men into the Confederate army. According to one Confederate man from Kentucky, "The Proclamation is worth three hundred thousand soldiers to our Government at least It shows exactly what this war was brought about for and the intention of its damnable authors.
One Union soldier from New York stated worryingly after the Proclamation's passage, "I know enough of the Southern spirit that I think they will fight for the institution of slavery even to extermination. As a result of the Proclamation, the price of slaves in the Confederacy increased in the months after its issuance, with one Confederate from South Carolina opining in that "now is the time for Uncle to buy some negro women and children.
As Lincoln had hoped, the Proclamation turned foreign popular opinion in favor of the Union by gaining the support of anti-slavery countries and countries that had already abolished slavery especially the developed countries in Europe such as Great Britain or France. This shift ended the Confederacy's hopes of gaining official recognition. Since the Emancipation Proclamation made the eradication of slavery an explicit Union war goal, it linked support for the South to support for slavery.
Public opinion in Britain would not tolerate direct support for slavery. British companies, however, continued to build and operate blockade runners for the South. As Henry Adams noted, "The Emancipation Proclamation has done more for us than all our former victories and all our diplomacy. On August 6, , Garibaldi wrote to Lincoln: Mayor Abel Haywood, a representative for workers from Manchester , England, wrote to Lincoln saying, "We joyfully honor you for many decisive steps toward practically exemplifying your belief in the words of your great founders: Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in November made indirect reference to the Proclamation and the ending of slavery as a war goal with the phrase "new birth of freedom".
The Proclamation solidified Lincoln's support among the rapidly growing abolitionist element of the Republican Party and ensured that they would not block his re-nomination in In December , Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction , which dealt with the ways the rebel states could reconcile with the Union. Key provisions required that the states accept the Emancipation Proclamation and thus the freedom of their slaves, and accept the Confiscation Acts , as well as the Act banning of slavery in United States territories.
Near the end of the war, abolitionists were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation would be construed solely as a war measure, Lincoln's original intent, and would no longer apply once fighting ended. They were also increasingly anxious to secure the freedom of all slaves, not just those freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
Thus pressed, Lincoln staked a large part of his presidential campaign on a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery uniformly throughout the United States. Lincoln's campaign was bolstered by separate votes in both Maryland and Missouri to abolish slavery in those states. Maryland's new constitution abolishing slavery took effect in November Slavery in Missouri was ended by executive proclamation of its governor, Thomas C. Fletcher, on January 11, Winning re-election, Lincoln pressed the lame duck 38th Congress to pass the proposed amendment immediately rather than wait for the incoming 39th Congress to convene.
In January , Congress sent to the state legislatures for ratification what became the Thirteenth Amendment , banning slavery in all U. The amendment was ratified by the legislatures of enough states by December 6, , and proclaimed 12 days later. There were about 40, slaves in Kentucky and 1, in Delaware who were liberated then. As the years went on and American life continued to be deeply unfair towards blacks, cynicism towards Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation increased. Perhaps the strongest attack was Lerone Bennett's Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream , which claimed that Lincoln was a white supremacist who issued the Emancipation Proclamation in lieu of the real racial reforms for which radical abolitionists pushed.
Guelzo noted the professional historians' lack of substantial respect for the document, since it has been the subject of few major scholarly studies. He argued that Lincoln was the US's "last Enlightenment politician " [] and as such was dedicated to removing slavery strictly within the bounds of law.
Other historians have given more credit to Lincoln for what he accomplished within the tensions of his cabinet and a society at war, for his own growth in political and moral stature, and for the promise he held out to the slaves. As Eric Foner wrote:. Lincoln was not an abolitionist or Radical Republican, a point Bennett reiterates innumerable times. He did not favor immediate abolition before the war, and held racist views typical of his time. But he was also a man of deep convictions when it came to slavery, and during the Civil War displayed a remarkable capacity for moral and political growth.
Perhaps in rejecting the critical dualism—Lincoln as individual emancipator pitted against collective self-emancipators—there is an opportunity to recognise the greater persuasiveness of the combination. In a sense, yes: To venerate a singular —Great Emancipator' may be as reductive as dismissing the significance of Lincoln's actions.
Who he was as a man, no one of us can ever really know. So it is that the version of Lincoln we keep is also the version we make. Martin Luther King Jr. These include a speech made at an observance of the hundredth anniversary of the issuing of the Proclamation made in New York City on September 12, where he placed it alongside the Declaration of Independence as an "imperishable" contribution to civilization, and "All tyrants, past, present and future, are powerless to bury the truths in these declarations".
He lamented that despite a history where the United States "proudly professed the basic principles inherent in both documents", it "sadly practiced the antithesis of these principles".
He concluded "There is but one way to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation. That is to make its declarations of freedom real; to reach back to the origins of our nation when our message of equality electrified an unfree world, and reaffirm democracy by deeds as bold and daring as the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. King's most famous invocation of the Emancipation Proclamation was in a speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom often referred to as the " I Have a Dream " speech.
King began the speech saying "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
In the early s, Dr. Kennedy to bypass a Southern segregationist opposition in the Congress by issuing an executive order to put an end to segregation. This envisioned document was referred to as the "Second Emancipation Proclamation". On June 11, , President Kennedy appeared on national television to address the issue of civil rights.
Kennedy, who had been routinely criticized as timid by some of the leaders of the civil rights movement, told Americans that two black students had been peacefully enrolled in the University of Alabama with the aid of the National Guard despite the opposition of Governor George Wallace. John Kennedy called it a "moral issue" [] Invoking the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation he said.
In the same speech, Kennedy announced he would introduce comprehensive civil rights legislation to the United States Congress which he did a week later he continued to push for its passage until his assassination in November Joseph holds Lyndon Johnson's ability to get that bill, the Civil Rights Act of , passed on July 2, was aided by "the moral forcefulness of the June 11 speech" which turned "the narrative of civil rights from a regional issue into a national story promoting racial equality and democratic renewal".
During the civil rights movement of the s, Lyndon B. Johnson invoked the Emancipation Proclamation holding it up as a promise yet to be fully implemented. As Vice President while speaking from Gettysburg on May 30, Memorial Day , at the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, Johnson connected it directly with the ongoing civil rights struggles of the time saying "One hundred years ago, the slave was freed.
One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the color of his skin In this hour, it is not our respective races which are at stake—it is our nation. Let those who care for their country come forward, North and South, white and Negro, to lead the way through this moment of challenge and decision Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.
To the extent that the proclamation of emancipation is not fulfilled in fact, to that extent we shall have fallen short of assuring freedom to the free. As president, Johnson again invoked the proclamation in a speech presenting the Voting Rights Act at a joint session of Congress on Monday, March 15, This was one week after violence had been inflicted on peaceful civil rights marchers during the Selma to Montgomery marches.
And we shall overcome. As a man whose roots go deeply into Southern soil, I know how agonizing racial feelings are. I know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the structure of our society. But a century has passed—more than years—since the Negro was freed. And he is not fully free tonight. It was more than years ago that Abraham Lincoln—a great President of another party—signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But emancipation is a proclamation and not a fact. A century has passed—more than years—since equality was promised, and yet the Negro is not equal. A century has passed since the day of promise, and the promise is unkept.
The time of justice has now come, and I tell you that I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back. It is right in the eyes of man and God that it should come, and when it does, I think that day will brighten the lives of every American. He finally becomes frustrated and explains it is a proclamation for certain people who wanted emancipation. Bigger, Longer and Uncut , Chef asks the military commander if he has "ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation? The Emancipation Proclamation is celebrated around the world including on stamps of nations such as the Republic of Togo.
Designed by Georg Olden , an initial printing of million stamps was authorized.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about American history. For emancipation proclamations in other countries, see Abolition of slavery timeline. Henry Lewis Stephens , untitled watercolor c. The five page original document, held in the National Archives Building. Until it had been bound with other proclamations in a large volume held by the Department of State.
By country or region. Slave states and free states.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America
Slave and free states. Abraham Lincoln and slavery. Executive orders are simply presidential directives issued to agents of the executive department by its boss. The Executive Branch of Federal Government: People, Process, and Politics. National Archives and Records Administration. National Endowment for the Humanities. Masur tells the story of the day interval in Lincoln's Hundred Days: War Becomes Revolution, — pp.
Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: U of Nebraska Press. The Library of Congress. The Legal Understanding of Slavery: From the Historical to the Contemporary. The Fifth Amendment's Just Compensation clause provided the proslavery camp with a bastion for fortifying the peculiar institution against congressional restrictions to its spread westward.
Based on this property-rights centered argument, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, in Dred Scott v. Sanford , found the Missouri Compromise unconstitutionally violated due process. The peculiar institution reached many private aspects of human life, for both whites and blacks Even free Southern blacks lived in a world so legally constricted by racial domination that it offered only a deceptive shadow of freedom.
Retrieved June 27, Retrieved January 21, Archived from the original on October 20, The destruction of slavery. Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War. Harris, "After the Emancipation Proclamation: Archived from the original on April 25, Slavery Declared Forever Abolished". The New York Times. A new history of Kentucky. In , Kentucky refused to ratify the 13th Amendment.