“The Proclamation is the drawing of a sword that can never be sheathed again.”
This is the story of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Anti-slavery, moderate-Republican President Abraham Lincoln has never liked slavery. He wants to prevent it from expanding to new US territories. But he also never intended to go on the offensive against the “peculiar institution” within those states where it already exists. The Illinois Rail-Splitter knows the law; he’s aware that the constitution protects slavery at the state level.
Then the Civil War came. As the South breaks away from the Union, the North breaks philosphically on slavery. The abolitionists say ending slavery must be a war aim. The Democrats and border-states say this war is only about preserving the Union. Moderate Republicans and still others are mixed. Meanwhile, enslaved Americans within the Confederacy are seeking refuge in Federal army camps. How should Union Generals respond? Can they give sanctuary without upsetting the border-states that may still join the Confederacy? And do seceded states still have constitutional rights? Or does war mean the president can use his constitutional war powers to end slavery among rebelling states by proclamation? And if he does … what will that outcome be?
The questions are boundless. The answers are unknowable without taking the plunge. Your move, President Lincoln.
142: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive (pt.1) – “The Lost Battalion”
141: Wartime Interlude
140: WWI Aviators: From the Lafayette Escadrille to the Red Baron and More
139: From Yeomen (F) to “Hello Girls:” American Women in World War I
138: The 15th New York/369th or The Harlem Hellfighters
137: The First Battle of the First American Army: St. Mihiel
136: The German Spring Offensive’s End, or The Second Battle of the Marne
135: Belleau Wood – A Cut Deeper with Captain Mac Caldwell
134: (Most of) The German Spring Offensive of 1918 & The Fight for Belleau Wood
133: Heading “Over There:” “Black Jack” Pershing & Creating WWI’s American Expeditionary Force
132: The US Enters WWI (RMS Lusitania, Black Tom Island, & The Zimmermann Telegram)
131: Epilogue on World War 1 before the US
130: Russia: From the Great War to Revolution with Deputy Provost Kat Brown
129: World War I Before the US (Military Tech, Trenches, Global Armies, Ypres, Verdun & the Somme)
128: The Causes of World War I (From the Congress of Vienna to Franz Ferdinand & the Marne)
127: Mr. Wilson Goes to Washington (Progressive Policies & Foreign Affairs in South America)
126: Christmas Special 6: Jacob Riis’ “Is There a Santa Claus?”
125: Epilogue: The Progressive Era
124: The “Bull Moose” Election of 1912
123: The Wright Brothers Fly at Kitty Hawk
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