CHAPTER XXII EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES (1862-1863) SUGGESTIONS IN Barrett's biography of Abraham Lincoln, it is stated that the first rough draft of the Emancipation Proclamation was written on board ship as the President was returning from his visit to the army at Harrison's Landing, the 8th of July. The original official draft is dated September 22nd, 1862, and was presented to the Army Relief Bazaar at Albany, N. Y., in 1864. It is in the handwriting of President Lincoln, excepting two interlineations in pencil, by Secretary Seward, and the formal heading and ending, which were written by the chief clerk of the State Department. The final Proclamation was signed on New Year's Day, 1863. These documents demand close study: the preliminary proclamation has a background of military as well as political history, which is of the greatest importance; and in the study of the final document the student should take into consideration the story of Lincoln's life; the anecdotes and incidents grouping themselves around the abolitionists of the North; the home life upon the Southern plantation; the long struggle between the two great parties in Congress, problems which preceded the Proclamation of 1863. For Outlines and Material, see Appendix B. Text taken from Abra ham Lincoln, DOCUMENTS Preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation September 22, 1862. I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and commander-in-chief of the Complete army and navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and deWorks, ii. 237. clare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be Note that prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States, and each of the States, and the people thereof, in Lincoln was the head of the Army which States that relation is or may be suspended or according to disturbed. Const. Art. ii. sec. ii. until after President That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of This proclaCongress, to again recommend the adoption of a mation was practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the kept back free acceptance or rejection of all slave States so the victory called, the people whereof may not then be in rebel- at Antietam. lion against the United States, and which States Lincoln had may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter vowed to may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; promise to and that the effort to colonize persons of Afri- issue such a proclamation can descent, with their consent, upon this conti- if the "rebel nent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained army consent of the governments existing there, will In December be continued. himself to fulfil the "' were driven out. the House passed a res of year olution to President's policy. That on the first day of January, in the our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- approve the 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. tion. dition was brought That the Executive will, on the first day of January See Final aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States Proclamaand parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against No such conthe United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith about berepresented in the Congress of the United States, by 22, 1862, and tween Sept. members chosen thereto at elections wherein a ma- Jan. 1, 1863. jority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence. Refusal of government to uphold Fugitive Slave Law. "Contrabands" become free men. that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States. That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13th, 1862, and which act is in the words and figures following: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such: "ARTICLE- All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labour who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labour is claimed to be due; and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service." "SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage." Also, to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following: "SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. 1852. "SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be Practically delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of this was a repeal of the his liberty, except for crime or some offense against Fugitive the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive Slave Act of shall first make oath that the person to whom the labour or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labour of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service." And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above recited. And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have Compenremained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall sated emancipation (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation proved inefbetween the United States and their respective fectual. States and people, if that relation shall have been This proclasuspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. mation had been talked of for months by the clergy, the press, and politicians. It was not until the President deemed it prudent that it was even Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord drafted (July [L. s.] one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, Sth). It was and of the Independence of the United States then laid aside for the the eighty-seventh. ripening of later events. Text from II. 287. See preceding docu ment. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Final Proclamation of Emancipation. January 1, 1863. 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 sixtythree, 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 ab |