Ch. 2.1. Primary Source: The Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1, 1863
In July of 1862 President Lincoln revealed to his cabinet his resolve to issue a proclamation of emancipation. Though Lincoln had always been “naturally anti-slavery,” as he wrote in a letter to Albert Hodges, several challenges had stood in the way of the proclamation, including fears that it would push loyal Border States into the hands of the Confederacy, and the question of whether an Emancipation Proclamation would be constitutional.
Despite these concerns, Lincoln pressed forward, making a preliminary announcement on Sept. 22, 1862, that he would issue the proclamation itself on Jan. 1, 1863. He carefully crafted the proclamation’s legalistic language to withstand scrutiny by a Supreme Court inclined to strike it down. In the final version of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln justified it not only as a matter of military necessity but as an act of justice. When he signed it on January 1, 1863, over 3 million slaves were freed–at least in theory.
What often goes unnoticed today, however, is that all those who were technically freed by this proclamation were behind enemy lines. This is why the text includes a long list of states and counties: his proclamation applied only to these areas, and they were all still held by the Confederacy. In other words, this proclamation did not in fact free anyone at the time that it was made. It did help, however, to further undermine the Confederacy, by providing incentive and encouragement to those slaves who fled their masters and to those former slaves who were willing and able to enlist in the Union army.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 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 first 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 State 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 authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first 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, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. Johns, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, 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 Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth-City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk & 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-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases 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.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
Source: the Teaching American History.org website, under Final Emancipation Proclamation.