Emancipation Proclamation

This phrase is from the quoted section of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation stating that states and parts of states that decided to rejoin the United States would no longer be seen as rebelling against the Union. If they rejoin the Union, they can keep their enslaved people for a time. Lincoln clarifies that those that decide to rejoin the Union must have a majority of its citizens vote and support the rejoining without any resistance or contradictory representation. The phrase expresses the need for a fair democratic decision. It also hints at the potential divide within rebelling states on whether to rejoin the Union.

The Emancipation Proclamation declares that enslaved people inside the territory controlled by the Confederacy “are, and henceforward shall be free” (Paragraph 2). It was a major step toward ending slavery in the country whose “Declaration of Independence” celebrates the idea that “all men are created free and equal.” The recognition of Black people’s freedom hints at the change that will soon come to the Constitution in the form of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

Because it is really an edict or an executive order, Lincoln never stood up and proclaimed the Emancipation Proclamation, like he did the Gettysburg Address. Rather, there was an official signing of the document on January 1, 1863. It was common, however, for Union soldiers to read it aloud to groups of newly emancipated people as they liberated the South.