Emancipation
Proclamation - Scott # 1233
Issued on Aug 16, 1963
in
Chicago, Illinois - Designed by George Olden
This First Day of Issue cachet
is on an original 1860s Civil War Patriotic
Cover. The text reads, "I have no one to send - I'll go myself
and nurse the sick."
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The Emancipation Proclamation
was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 The document
declared that slaves of the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union
were free. It did not actually free any slaves; Lincoln had no way of
enforcing the proclamation in those states in rebellion. (See the 13th
Amendment)
Many of the slaves in Texas did not learn of their freedom until 1865.
Before the start of the Civil War, northern
leaders had been primarily concerned with stopping the extension of slavery
into western territories that would eventually achieve statehood within the
Union. With the secession of the Southern states and the consequent start of
the Civil War, however, the continued tolerance of Southern slavery by
Northerners no longer to served any constructive political purpose. Emancipation
thus quickly changed from a distant possibility to an imminent and feasible
eventuality. Lincoln had declared that he meant to save the Union as best he
could—by preserving slavery, by destroying it, or by destroying part and
preserving part. Just after the Battle of Antietam (Sept. 17, 1862) he issued
his proclamation calling on the revolted states to return to their
allegiance before the next year, otherwise their slaves would be declared free
men. No state returned, and the threatened declaration was issued on Jan. 1,
1863.
As president, Lincoln could issue no such
declaration; as commander in chief of the armies and navies of the United
States he could issue directions only as to the territory within his lines;
but the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to territory
outside of his lines. It has therefore been debated whether the proclamation
was in reality of any force. It may fairly be taken as an announcement of the
policy that was to guide the army and as a declaration of freedom taking
effect as the lines advanced.
Its international importance was far greater. The
locking up of the world's source of cotton supply had been a general calamity,
and the Confederate government and people had steadily expected that the
English and French governments would intervene in the war. The conversion of
the struggle into a crusade against slavery made European intervention
impossible.
The Emancipation Proclamation
did more than lift the war to the level of a crusade for human freedom. It
brought some substantial practical results, because it allowed the Union to
recruit African American soldiers. To this invitation to join the army the
African Americans responded in great numbers; nearly 180,000 of them enlisting
during the remainder of the war. By Aug. 26, 1863, Lincoln could report, in a
letter to James C. Conkling, that “the emancipation policy, and the
use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the
rebellion.”
Two months before the war ended—in February
1865—Lincoln told portrait painter Francis B. Carpenter that the Emancipation
Proclamation was “the central act of my administration, and
the greatest event of the nineteenth century.” To Lincoln and to his
countrymen it had become evident that the proclamation had dealt a deathblow
to slavery in the United States, a fate that was officially sealed by the
ratification of the Thirteenth
Amendment in December 1865.
JUNETEENTH
Juneteenth, the oldest known
celebration of the ending of slavery has been celebrated by African Americans
for over 135 years. It was on June 19, 1865, (Juneteenth)
when many of slaves in the state of Texas first learned that they had been
freed.
The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect
on January 1, 1863, however, it was not until General Granger of the Union
Army arrived in Texas in 1865 that many of the slaves were informed that they
had already been emancipated for over two years.
As the news spread throughout Texas, African Americans
celebrated. Festive foods were prepared, music and games were played, stories
were told, and people danced and sang.
From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the
observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day
has spread across the United States and beyond. The celebration commemorates
freedom with an emphasis on education and achievement.
Today, Juneteenth is celebrated
across the country and the throughout the world as a day of, (and in some
areas as a week or month long) celebration, rejoicing and reflection.
The
Emancipation Proclamation - Abraham Lincoln - 1862
Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation
was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among
other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the 1st day of
January, A.D. 1863, 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 1st 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 States 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 1st day of January, A.D. 1863,
and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for
the full period of one hundred days from the first day 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, Palquemines, Jefferson, St. John,
St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, 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 Berkeley, Accomac,
Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, 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 case 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.
Sources:
Encyclopedia
Britannica
Encyclopedia
Africana
World
Book Encyclopedia
National
Archives and Records Administration
Juneteenth.com
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