Abolitionists argued that freeing enslaved people in the South would help the Union win the war, as enslaved labor was vital to the Confederate war effort. Lincoln also tried to get the border states to agree to gradual emancipation, including compensation to enslavers, with little success.
When abolitionists criticized him for not coming out with a stronger emancipation policy, Lincoln replied that he valued saving the Union over all else. Abraham Lincoln reading the Emancipation Proclamation before his cabinet.
Lincoln had written a draft in late July, and while some of his advisers supported it, others were anxious. William H. On September 17, , Union troops halted the advance of Confederate forces led by Gen. Robert E. Lee near Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the Battle of Antietam. On January 1, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which included nothing about gradual emancipation, compensation for enslavers or Black emigration and colonization, a policy Lincoln had supported in the past.
Lincoln justified emancipation as a wartime measure, and was careful to apply it only to the Confederate states currently in rebellion. Exempt from the proclamation were the four border slave states and all or parts of three Confederate states controlled by the Union Army. It also had practical effects: Nations like Britain and France, which had previously considered supporting the Confederacy to expand their power and influence, backed off due to their steadfast opposition to slavery.
Black Americans were permitted to serve in the Union Army for the first time, and nearly , would do so by the end of the war. Finally, the Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for the permanent abolition of slavery in the United States. As Lincoln and his allies in Congress realized emancipation would have no constitutional basis after the war ended, they soon began working to enact a Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. By the end of January , both houses of Congress had passed the 13th Amendment , and it was ratified that December.
The Emancipation Proclamation, National Archives. The Emancipation Proclamation Lack of military successes, growing pressure from radical elements of his party, and fears that France or Great Britain might recognize the Confederacy plagued Abraham Lincoln during the summer of As Lincoln writes, his hand is placed on a Bible that rests on a copy of the U.
Constitution—the sources of his inspiration. The scales of justice hang badly out of balance. Also on the wall hangs a key—perhaps to open locks and free the enslaved. A copy of the presidential oath reminds Lincoln of his pledge to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.
A map of Europe, with the sword of isolationist president George Washington hanging over it, reminds viewers that foreign intervention is never wanted and that the nation is vulnerable when divided. A Southern View Southern and border state unionists, loyal slaveholders, and Democrats denounced the Emancipation Proclamation as "revolutionizing the war. A portrait of John Brown with a halo, labeled St.
Ossawatomie, refers to Osawatomie, Kansas, where Brown helped prevent the territory from becoming a slave state. Like Brown, Lincoln opposed expansion of slavery into the territories. Today, when the president signs a major piece of legislation, there are dozens of interested parties standing around his desk and receiving ceremonial pens and taking photos. And, apparently, he had shaken so many hands at the reception that he had difficulty holding the pen to sign the document. As word of the proclamation filtered down to slaves, the security of whites in the South and maintenance of its stable economy became major issues.
The Confederate war effort could not proceed successfully without slave labor, in the battlefields or the cotton fields and other farms. And as slaves gradually became aware of their freedom, well, the picture of slavery took a dramatic new image.
Between and , slaves walked off plantations and away from bondage whenever Union troops were near. Texas was a safe haven for slaveholders because of the limited Union presence in the state.
There were no major Civil War battles in Texas so no opportunities for slaves to seek shelter behind Union lines. Slavery in Texas during the war was relatively unaffected and with that knowledge slaveholders moved their slaves to Texas and re-established their plantations. Some freedmen seized the opportunity to turn on their masters. Our proximity to the enemy has had a perceptible influence on them. The Confederacy relied on slave labor to do the non-combat work of the war as cooks, teamsters, mechanics, hospital attendants.
Eventually, there were some blacks who wore the uniform of the Confederacy, but the widely accepted opinion on their exclusion from donning the battle gray uniforms was as Confederate General Clement H. If we make him a soldier we concede the whole question. In March , with the tide turned decidedly in favor of the North, Confederate President Jefferson Davis approved the enlistment of , slaves, with the predictable promise of freedom, but their addition came much too late to help Johnny Reb.
Lee surrendered on April 9, , but it would not be until August 20, that President Andrew Johnson would officially declare the war over. Where is Texas in all of this?
Texas was readmitted to the Union on March 30, Slave owners and male family members did venture off to fight for the Confederacy, leaving, in some cases, male slaves in charge of running plantations and farms. Only 30 percent of Texas families owned slaves in , and only 2 percent of those held 20 or more slaves. Yet, the war certainly had a toll on Texas. But, in the early months of , Texas newspapers still contained advertisements of slaves for sale as Texans went about their slave-holding business as usual openly defying compliance with the proclamation.
Some Texas slaves reported being in bondage as much as six years after emancipation, and after Juneteenth, blacks were murdered, lynched, and harassed by whites. The same held true for sympathizing whites. That was the mood that greeted Gen. Granger was sent to command the Department of Texas and among his first duties was announcing General Order No. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and of property, between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor: The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages.
They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere. Why had it taken so long for the word about emancipation to reach this state? There are varying accounts, some myths, of why the news was delayed in getting to Texas. Take your pick:. Freedom had come to Texas slaves. Blacks were happy, Whites were scared, and large segments of both groups generally had no idea what to make of the situation.
One former slave, Felix Haywood offered this insight in the Slave Narratives.
0コメント