“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.
122: Halloween Special II: H.P. Lovecraft – “The Outsider” & “Dagon”
121: Henry Ford: The Model T & Mass Production
120: From Atlanta to the NAACP, or Booker T. Washington v. W.E.B. Du Bois
119: Women’s Suffrage & the Passage of the 19th Amendment
118: “The Island of Hope and Tears:” Ellis Island
117: Epilogue on Progressive Era Part I (Teddy Roosevelt)
116: Teddy Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy: From Big Stick Diplomacy to the Panama Canal
115: History–Doomed to Repeat It? A Conversation with Lindsay Graham
114: A Square Deal (pt. 3): “Leave it as it is” (Teddy Roosevelt & Conservationism)
113: A Square Deal (pt. 2): Consumer Protection–The FDA, & Ida Tarbell muckrakes Standard Oil
112: A Square Deal (pt. 1): Corp. Regulation—a coal strike, a trust, & Teddy’s Frenemy J.P. Morgan
111: The Assassination of Will McKinley & The Strenuous Life of Theodore Roosevelt
110: Epilogue to the Age of Imperialism
109: The Election of 1900 & the Rise of Anti-Imperialism
108: G.O. 100, “The Water Cure,” & The Law of War in the Early-20th Century with Professor Ryan Vogel
107: The Philippine-American War
106: The US Annexation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
105: “A Splendid Little War:” The Spanish-American War and Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders
104: The Road to the Spanish-American War
103: A Gilded Age Christmas: Joseph Pulitzer’s Christmas Tree Fund
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