September 22, 1862

Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862

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 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 disturbed.

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 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 part 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.

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: “Article-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 shall 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 to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled “An Act to suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and confiscate 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 offence 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 presen t 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 pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up 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 service, 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 twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.

[Signed:] By the President, Abraham Lincoln,

[Signed:] William H. Seward, Secretary of State

__________________________________________________________________________________________

(Emancipation Proclamation, from the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration)

January 31, 1865

Photo Source: Study of the United States Institute For Secondary Educators at the University of Illinois

Today marks the 147th anniversary of Congress passing the 13th Amendment and sending it to the states to be ratified.  The 13th Amendment would be ratified first by the State of Illinois on February 1st, 1865, and Georgia solidifying the passage of the amendment on December 6, 1865.  The Amendment would be immediately in effect with the announcement of its passage on December 18, 1865.  The last state to ratify the Amendment was, without surprise, Mississippi on March 16, 1995, after rejecting it on December 5, 1865.

In a recent post on Thomas DiLorenzo I discussed his article on Ron Paul and his “Shocking Ignorance of American History”…so amazed at his final comment and the historical error at the end I sent him the following email on Jan. 4, 2012…

Mr. Dilorenzo,

You wrote: “If Ron Paul succeeds in his “quest to undo the Party of Lincoln” it would be the greatest advance in freedom for Americans since the ending of slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1866.”

I know you hate Lincoln for defeating your beloved south, but as a pseudo-historian I would think that you could at least get the date of the passing and ratifying of the 13th Amendment correct.  It was ratified in Dec. of 1865, not in 1866.

Corey Meyer

And this is the response I received from the “Saint of Lost Cause Lincoln Bashing” that same day…

It became effective Jan. 1, 1866, dumbo.*

Yes, a professor of Economics and a crappy Lincoln “scholar” called me dumbo…I have arrived!  It makes one think that if he can get one basic fact wrong, what else can or did he get wrong…here is a little hint!  I wonder how they knew to put the amendment into effect on Jan. 1, 1866 if there was no guarantee of its ratification.  The 13th Amendment would go into force on the day of its ratification, not on Jan. 1, 1866 like the good professor said.  Maybe he should stick to economics and let the history teachers take care of the history.

*If you question the validity of the email, provide me with your email in the comments section and I will forward you his response email!

SCV Claims 90-95,000 Black Confederates

Screen Capture - Used For Educational Purposes

It appears that the number of Black Confederates that existed is so much common knowledge that the SCV and the SCV-MC (who posted the information as truth without any clarification or explanation) has decided just to run with it as you can see from a screen capture above from the Florida Cracker Newsletter.

The pictures and information comes from what was billed as “An Evening with Nelson Winbush” whose grandfather is said to have been Louis Napoleon Nelson who is said to have fought with the 7th Tenn. Cavalry during the Civil War.  I know the page is not one of academia, but it would be nice to see the Lost Causer types stop using this number and be more responsible with history.  But what should be expect with a group like the SCV-MC…who for the first time did not post pictures of beer…well only one…maybe there is a nice fat check headed to a battlefield in need of preservation.  Who knows?

Teaching Tolerance: Myths About The Civil War and Slavery by James W. Loewen

South Carolina, Farmers & Exchange Bank of Charleston, $5, April 13, 1861 Depicting slavery

Recently Kevin Levin at Civil War Memory posted some comments about Ed Sebesta and his refusal to accept any award he might receive from the Museum of the Confederacy or any other Confederate affiliated organization.  Kevin also discussed how Ed Sebasta’s comments could possibly hurt the stated mission of the MOC.  Kevin then called on Sebesta’s co-author for the book, “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The “Great Truth” about the “Lost Cause”, James Loewen to respond to Sebesta’s crazy comments and clear the air once and for all.

I was surprised today when I recieved the Fall 2011 copy of Teaching Tolerance at work today to find a short article (pdf format) by Loewen addressing the myths surrounding the Civil War and Slavery.  This short article addresses some pretty big issues like: Why the North Went to War, Black Confederates, the southern myth that slavery in 1860 was on its way out and how the lost cause developed.

The article is well written, straight foward and puts things very bluntly…enough so that once this hits Facebooks’s SHPG it should cause quite a stir…not to mention coming from an offshoot of the Southern Poverty Law Center.  I suppose that is the purpose of drawing attention to the article…I want to see how my Neo-Confederate “friend” react.  So…have at it boys and girls!

Camp Lawton Found & Sleeping in Slave Cabins.

During my drive home from work today, I was listening to NPR and a story came on concerning the discovery of Camp Lawton down in Georgia.  Camp Lawton is the camp that held captives from Andersonville once it was evacuated.  For 150 years the location of Camp Lawton was not known…until the find was detailed  by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Southern University.

Also, following the Camp Lawton story was a story about Joe McGill who is helping to preserve slave cabins by sleeping in them.  To read about Joe’s adventures take a look at the following links.

Rousing support for S.C. slave cabin preservation – by sleeping

National Trust for Historic Preservation Article.

Honoring Slaves By Sleeping In Their Cabins.