President
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the
nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation
declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the
rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. And not all southern states even HAD slavery ! Florida never had slavery ! IT was aimed to make the southern states that refused to submit to Lincoln's new government, a stronger target ! It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control ! Most important, the 'freedom' it promised depended upon Union Federal military victory. It was primarily USED by Lincoln as a ploy to totally control ALL of the states, especially aimed at the Southern states that fought his government changes (over-throw), and which the new Sovereign Nation of the Confederate States of America (CSA) were determined NOT to come under the Elite Union Federal Controls that they saw as a total destruction of the Founders government !
Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, it fundamentally transformed the character of the war. This was not originally an idea of Lincoln's; he was talked into it by his advisors, in order to make slavery the focus of the purpose of the war, which it had NOT been up to this time . Slavery was NOT the reason for the Civil War ! It was a ploy used late in the war to keep the war going ! This way they told Lincoln, he would be more able to persuade the soldiers to continue fighting against the south, if he made it appear to be more of a moral, religious type effort, which 'slavery' would do. It worked. After January 1, 1863, every advance of Federal Union troops expanded the Union Federal domain of what they called 'freedom'.
Moreover, the 'Proclamation' announced the 'acceptance' of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the 'liberated' to become 'liberators' (Union soldiers). Up until this time, Lincoln, who was a huge anti-black supporter, did not allow blacks to fight in 'his' Union Military. But he needed soldiers ! Lincoln made it very clear that he did not see blacks as 'equal' to whites in any way. He saw blacks as 'less human'. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and so-called 'freedom'. (Submission to the Federal Union Government of Lincoln's).
Actually "freedom" to Lincoln's Federal Elite Union, meant total submission to him and 'his' laws and new Republican party government he had established ! See - Truth About Lincoln's New Union Federal Government.
From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed the insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for 'freedom'. However what Lincoln's new government actually did was NOT "free" anyone, but made EVERYONE his Federal Government subservient slaves under his new laws and rules and new taxes that never existed before and was FORBIDDEN UNDER THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION ! The 'Proclamation' added a 'moral force' that was needed to the Union cause, and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery's 'final destruction', the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed an Elite place among the 'great documents' in human history. And it was written for history to make Lincoln appear to be "the great emancipator".
The original of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, is in the National Archives in Washington, DC. With the text covering five pages the document was originally tied with narrow red and blue ribbons, which were attached to the signature page by a wafered impression of the seal of the Federal United States. Most of the ribbon remains; parts of the seal are still decipherable, but other parts have worn off.
The document was bound with other proclamations in a large volume preserved for many years by the Federal Department of State. Written in red ink on the upper right-hand corner of this large sheet is the number of the Proclamation, 95, given to it by the Federal Department of State long after it was signed. With other records, the volume containing the Emancipation Proclamation was transferred in 1936 from the Federal Department of State to the National Archives of the Federal United States.
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The Emancipation
Proclamation
January 1, 1863
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
"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 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.
"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 absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and 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.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh."
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.
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