emancipation proclamation

     

The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orers issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second order, issued January 1, 1863, named the specific states where it applied.

Trivia about emancipation proclamation

  • Lincoln said it was "the central act of my administration & the greatest event of the 19th century"
  • Though it went into effect January 1, 1863, no slaves were legally freed because of it
  • Issued after the battle of Antietam, this document took effect January 1, 1863
  • (Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. gives the clue.) In a recent essay, I cited the election of Barack Obama as one of the 4 "transformative moments" in African-American history; this 1863 event was the first
  • In the painting seen here, Lincoln is reading this historic document that led to the end of slavery
  • This liberating document took effect Jan. 1, 1863
  • 1863:"All persons held as slaves within any state... shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free"
  • This January 1, 1863 document liberated all slaves in regions still under Confederate control
  • After the trouble I took, Frederick Douglass tells me that most slaves haven't even heard about this proclamation
  • In 1963 George Olden became the first black designer of a U.S. stamp, one issued for the centennial of this event
  • This was read to the cabinet on September 22, 1862 but it didn't go into effect until 101 days later
  • (Kelly of the Clue Crew reports from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, IL.) Lincoln signed many important documents in his executive office, including this, which he called "the central act of my administration and the great event of the 19th century"