Emancipation_Memorial » Anndee's Timeline Photos

It freed not one solitary soul, and more than 100,000 Union troops deserted because of it. https://confederatehonorhome.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/emancipation-proclamation-was-a-tool-of-war.pdf

September 22, 2023

Unreconstructed

THE GENERALLY MISUNDERSTOOD EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION The Gray Book, by the Sons Of Confederate Veterans, General Hqs, Box 5164, Southern Station, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, C. S. A., 1917. There is no document so little read or so widely misunderstood as the Emancipation Proclamation—there is no su... View MoreTHE GENERALLY MISUNDERSTOOD EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION The Gray Book, by the Sons Of Confederate Veterans, General Hqs, Box 5164, Southern Station, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, C. S. A., 1917. There is no document so little read or so widely misunderstood as the Emancipation Proclamation—there is no subject so entirely misstated as Lincoln’s connection with, and attitude toward, freeing the negro. Lincoln, who never freed a slave, is called “The Emancipator”, while The Emancipation Proclamation, a war measure of the sternest description, holding within its possibilities an untold measure of woe for the South, is almost universally hailed as a great “humanitarian” document! To those who wish to know the truth, attention is directed to these several points especially–the document is self-styled “a war measure; it not only did not free a single slave (this was done long afterward by Congressional action and the 13th amendment) but it expressly and particularly continued to hold in bondage the only slaves it could have freed, viz., those in country held by Federal armies and under the jurisdiction of the United States government; intended as a war measure to demoralize the South and destroy the morale of Southern armies is a pointed hint at servile insurrection in paragraph third from the last in the proclamation of January 1st , 1863. Attention is also called to Lincoln’s attitude toward freeing the negro, as clearly expressed by him in a letter to Horace Greeley, just prior to issuing the proclamation. This letter, inserted below, is copied faithfully from the files of the New York Tribune now in the Congressional Library. It most abundantly speaks for itself. In it Lincoln makes use of expressions which entirely dispose of any claim that he was waging war to free the slaves and which confound those who so persistently misrepresent the causes of the war between the states. “My paramount object,” he says, “in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not, either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. What I do about slavery and the colored race I do because I believe it helps to save the Union” This letter and the terms and restrictions of the Proclamation itself show beyond any doubt the entirely war-like purpose of the proclamation and the entire absence of any humanitarian element either in Lincoln’s purposes in promulgating it or in the provisions of the instrument itself. Lincoln’s Letter to Greeley (from Vol 22 New York Tribune, August 25, 1862, page 4, column 3, on file in Congressional Library) with a few preliminary and non-essential sentences omitted. Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1862. “Hon. Horace Greeley: Dear Sir: I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the constitution. The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be “the Union it was.” If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount (object to) those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I forebear, I forebear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty and I intend no modification of my oft expressed personal wish that all men, everywhere, could be free. Yours, A. Lincoln.” Here follows the preliminary proclamation of Sept. 22, 1862, and then afterward the “Emancipation Proclamation” itself, exempting from its provisions all those in territory held by Federal arms and under jurisdiction of the U. S. government. By the President of the United States of America. A PROCLAMATION. I,. Abraham Lincoln, President of The United States of America, and Commander-in-Chief of (sic) the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof in which States that relation is or may be suspended or distributed. That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued. 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 the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any act or acts they may make for their actual freedom. That the Executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the 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. That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled “An act to make an additional article of war,” approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figure following: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such: Art–– All officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who should be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.” Also the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled “An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes,” approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following: Sec. 9. And be it further enacted that all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons found on (or) being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as slaves. Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, that no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State shall be delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty except for crime or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any such person to the claimant on pain of being dismissed from the service.” And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce within their respective spheres of the act and sections above recited. And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall, upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed, be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves. 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 22d day of September, A. D. 1862 and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln (Seal) By The President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Taken from “A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789 - 1897, published by authority of Congress by James D. Richardson, a Representative from the State Of Tennessee, Volume VI, Page 96. (This is the one that really flew to the outside world and was published) By the President of the United States of America. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas on the 22d 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, designated the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall 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 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 the 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 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. John, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, 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 now 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 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. (Seal) Done at the city of Washington, on this 1st day of January, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln By the President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State Taken from “A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789 - 1897, published by authority of Congress by James D. Richardson, a Representative from the State of Tennessee, Volume VI, Page 157

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September 22, 2023

Unreconstructed

Lincoln’s Proclamation Freed Nobody The contempt for Lincoln’s proclamation was not limited to the United States. The distain for Lincoln’s proclamation by foreigners is displayed in a letter by the British statesman Earl Russell on January 17, 1863: “The Proclamation of the President of the Unit... View More

September 22, 2023

Unreconstructed

Lincoln’s Proclamation As for the so-called "Emancipation Proclamation" any informed scholar knows that it was a propaganda tool intended to (hopefully) cause widespread slave uprisings to drain Confederate soldiers to quell them (none occurred); to... View More

September 22, 2023