Existing comment:
The Master Politician:
With no polls to guide him, Lincoln relied on his instincts to judge when the moment for action was right. "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery," he told newspaper editor Horace Greeley at the end of August 1862. "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, and if I could save it by freeing some slaves and leaving others alone, I would also do that."
Behind the scenes, Lincoln informed an Illinois friend days later that he was ready to declare the emancipation the moment "he was convinced that it could be made effective, and that the people were with him."
September 17, 1862:
At Antietam Creek in western Maryland, George McClellan's Army of the Potomac turned back Robert E. Lee's forces. This was victory enough for Lincoln to go public, on September 22, with a preliminary proclamation.
Public reaction was mixed. In that fall's elections, Republican candidates suffered heavy losses -- many of them blamed Lincoln for turning a war over states rights into a war on slavery.
January 1, 1863:
New Year's Day 1863 dawned cold and cloudless in the nation's capital. Lincoln was up early, scratching out a final draft of the proclamation before his usual meager breakfast. At 11:00 that morning, the doors of the White House were thrown open for the annual New Year's reception. Thousands lined up outside the Blue Room. Not until two o'clock was the president able to return to his upstairs office.
Emancipation Proclamation:
Shaking so many hands had left Lincoln's army unsteady. The last thing he wanted was for posterity to read hesitation into a shaky signature.
"I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper," said Lincoln. "Anyway, it is going to be done."
Slowly, carefully, he scrawled his full name. Then he smiled. "That will do," he remarked. |