Emancipation Proclamation

Examples of Emancipation Proclamation in the following topics:

• Emancipation

  • In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that freed the slaves in the Confederate states.
  • The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by U.S.
  • On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation that he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863.
  • President Lincoln and other Republicans were concerned that the Emancipation Proclamation would be seen as a temporary war measure because it was solely based upon Lincoln's war powers.
  • Areas covered by the Emancipation Proclamation are shown in red.

• The Aftermath of the War

  • Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation enabled blacks to join the Union Army, giving the Union an advantage, and helped end the Civil War.
  • Although Lincoln's approach to emancipation was slow, the Emancipation Proclamation was an effective use of the President's war powers.
  • The Emancipation Proclamation enabled African-Americans, both free blacks and escaped slaves, to join the Union Army.
  • They were nearly all freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • Slaves in the border states and those located in some former Confederate territory occupied prior to the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by state action or (on December 18, 1865) by the Thirteenth Amendment.

• The 13th Amendment

  • The Thirteenth Amendment completed the abolition of slavery in the United States, which had begun with President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

• African Americans in the Military

  • African-American soldiers comprised 10 percent of the Union Army, with recruitment beginning following the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
  • Union Army setbacks in battles over the summer of 1862 led Lincoln to emancipate all slaves in states at war with the Union.
  • In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, announcing that all slaves in rebellious states would be free as of January 1, 1863.
  • Recruitment of "colored" regiments began in full force following the Proclamation.
  • The attitude within the Confederacy toward Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was very negative, with many calling for the trial of any Union soldiers captured as slave insurrectionists, an offense punishable by death.

• Union Politics

  • In order to increase public support for emancipation, Lincoln strategically chose to associate the Emancipation Proclamation with the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862.
  • On September 22 of that year, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation that he would order the emancipation of all slaves within all Confederate states that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863.
  • Predictably, the Confederates were initially outraged by the Emancipation Proclamation and used it as further justification for their rebellion.
  • Additionally, these Democrats viewed the Proclamation as an unconstitutional abuse of Presidential power.
  • Controversy surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as military defeats suffered by the Union, caused many moderate Democrats to abandon Lincoln and join the more extreme Copperheads in the 1862 elections.

• Executive Orders

  • These orders carry the same force of law as executive orders—the difference between the two is that executive orders are aimed at those inside government while proclamations are aimed at those outside government.
  • The administrative weight of these proclamations is upheld because they are often specifically authorized by congressional statute, making them "delegated unilateral powers."
  • Presidential proclamations are often dismissed as a practical presidential tool for policymaking because of the perception of proclamations as largely ceremonial or symbolic in nature.
  • However, the legal weight of presidential proclamations suggests their importance to presidential governance.
  • Leland-Boker Authorized Edition of the Emancipation Proclamation, printed in June 1864 with a presidential signature

• The First Emancipation

  • Lord Dunmore's Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in United States history.
  • In November 1775 Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issued a controversial proclamation, later known as Lord Dunmore's Proclamation.
  • Dunmore's Proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in United States history.
  • After Dunmore's Proclamation, 500 Virginia slaves promptly abandoned their Patriot masters and joined Dunmore's ranks.
  • The Earl of Dunmore issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who would leave their masters and fight on behalf of Britain during the Revolutionary War.

• The Civil War Amendments

  • The Civil War Amendments protected equality for emancipated slaves by banning slavery, defining citizenship, and ensuring voting rights.
  • Known collectively as the Civil War Amendments, they were designed to ensure the equality for recently emancipated slaves.
  • While the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) officially ended slavery within the U.S., many citizens were concerned that the rights granted by war-time legislation would be overturned.

• Legally Free, Socially Bound

  • In 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • This Proclamation freed slaves in the southern states at war with the North.

• The Contraband Camps

  • Defying a Virginia law against educating slaves, Peake and other teachers held classes outdoors under a large oak tree, which later was named the "Emancipation Oak"; in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was read to the contraband slaves and free blacks there.
  • For most of the contraband slaves, full emancipation did not take place until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery in late 1865.
  • That uncertainty continued until late 1865, when the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted and contraband slaves became eligible for full emancipation.
  • Henry Louis Stephens's untitled watercolor (ca. 1863) of a man reading a newspaper with the headline, "Presidential Proclamation/Slavery."