Emancipation Proclamation

1. Emancipation Proclamation Created 11.30.2011

2. What is a Presidential Proclamation? Presidential proclamations are made in an effort to help identify a current condition or event. For example, it may be used to notify citizensto recognize a new holiday. Or… It can be used to declare a law that citizensmust acknowledge and follow. The President can make proclamations independent from Congress.

3. Had a sitting President issued a Proclamation before Lincoln? Yes The first proclamation was declared by our first president, George Washington, in 1789. Presidents, including Barack Obama, continued to issue proclamations.

4. When did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation? President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation was one of 50 different proclamations signed by Lincoln during his presidency. Lincoln’s signature on the Emancipation Proclamation.

5. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do? It stated that all slaves within states that had seceded from the Union were now free. However, it left alone Border States (states in the Union which allowed slavery) as well as sections of Southern states and territories that were under Union control as of January 1, 1863.

6. What power did the Emancipation Proclamation have? Freedom for slaves in the South was only able to be granted if the Union was victorious. In essence, slavery still existed in those states and territories still in rebellion. As Commander-in-Chief, Lincoln believed the proclamation’s power rested in the idea that slaves were considered contraband, or enemy property, which could be confiscated by Union forces and freed. For many in the North, preserving the Union was the main factor to end the rebellion. With the Emancipation Proclamation, the issue of ending slavery became a driving moral issue for others. Lithograph by A. H. Ritchie titled The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation

7. What power did the Emancipation Proclamation have? It also allowed black men to serve in the Union Army and Navy, something that was prohibited before 1863. As a result, by the end of the war, around 200,000 black men had served to help bring an end to the Civil War.

8. And end to slavery in the United States It took a constitutional amendment after the end of the Civil War to eradicate slavery in the United States. The 13th Amendment was adopted on December 6, 1865.