Lincoln the Emancipator

LINCOLN THE EMANCIPATOR
1863

The Emancipation Proclamation was, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, “the central act of my Administration and the great event of the nineteenth century.” It made slavery the central contention of the Civil War; previously, Lincoln’s stated concerns only applied to the Union. Emancipation was accomplished through two proclamations, not one: the preliminary and the final. Together they established a framework to win the war by freeing slaves. Despite its restricted scope (Lincoln touted it as a constitutionally justified “war measure” that applied only to places “in rebellion”), the final proclamation provided moral authority to Northern forces, as each subsequent military triumph resulted in freeing enslaved people. Most crucially, the Emancipation Proclamation allowed freed African Americans, for the first time, to join the active fighting units of the U.S. Army and Navy. The printings of the proclamation on display show how, from 1862 to 1864, emancipation became the defining feature of Lincoln’s presidency.

Changing Perspective

Abraham Lincoln, “The Letter to Horace Greeley,” The Letters of President Lincoln on Questions of National Policy (New York: Lloyd, 1863).

Abraham Lincoln, By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. [Final Emancipation Proclamation], General Orders [No. 1] (Washington: [Government Printing Office], 1862.)

Abraham Lincoln, “The Decree of Emancipation” [Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation], The New South (Port Royal, SC) Oct. 4, 1862.

Abraham Lincoln, By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. [Final Emancipation Proclamation] ([Washington: Government Printing Office, 1863]).

Abraham Lincoln, By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. [Emancipation Proclamation, “Great Central Fair Edition,” signed] ([Philadelphia: Boker & Leland, 1864]).

[Attributed to Mathew Brady Studio], [“A Group of Contrabands”] ([Hartford, CT: Taylor & Huntington, ca. 1870s]).

A New Year Begins

Rufus Saxton, A Happy New Years Greeting (n.p.: n.p., 1864).