Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in AmericaNo other words in American history changed the lives of so many Americans as this plain, blunt declaration from Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. But no other words in American history have been so often passed over or held up to greater suspicion. Born in the struggle of Lincoln's determination to set slavery on the path to destruction, it has remained a document of struggle, as conflicting interpretations and historical mysteries swirl around it. What were Lincoln's real intentions? Was he the Great Emancipator or just a Great Fixer? What slaves did the Proclamation actually free? Or did the slaves free themselves? Why is the language of the Proclamation so bland, so legalistic, so far from the soaring eloquence of the Gettysburg Address? Prizewinning Lincoln scholar Allen C. Guelzo presents, for the first time, a full scale study of Lincoln's greatest state paper. Using unpublished letters and documents, little- known accounts from Civil War-era newspapers, and Congressional memoirs and correspondence, Guelzo tells the story of the complicated web of statesmen, judges, slaves, and soldiers who accompanied, and obstructed, Abraham Lincoln on the path to the Proclamation. The crisis of a White House at war, of plots in Congress and mutiny in the Army, of one man's will to turn the nation's face toward freedom -- all these passionate events come alive in a powerful and moving narrative of Lincoln's, and the Civil War's, greatest moment. |
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... Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game , " Lincoln wrote . " Kentucky gone , we can not hold Mis- souri , nor , as I think , Maryland . These all against us , and the job on our hands is too large for us . We would as ...
... Kentucky's governor , Beriah Magoffin , over the presence of federal army recruiters on the supposedly " neutral " soil of Kentucky . ) But nothing in Lincoln's use of " war powers " had reached so far as to decree eman- cipation , and ...
... Kentucky . I fear the Legislature will take strong action against the proclamation , and even against the ... Kentucky Democrats , sniff- ing the opportunity to overturn the Unionist majorities in the Kentucky legis- lature , called a ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
FOUR WAYS TO FREEDOM | 13 |
THE PRESIDENT WILL RISE | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America Allen C. Guelzo Limited preview - 2004 |
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America Allen C. Guelzo Limited preview - 2006 |
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America Allen C. Guelzo Limited preview - 2005 |