Existing comment:
1862:
Moving Toward Emancipation:
In a move widely viewed at the time as a political and military strategy, on September 22, 1862, Lincoln announced that he would order the abolition of slavery in states in rebellion against the Union. Public reaction to this preliminary emancipation proclamation was immediate and mixed both in the North and South.
(Document) Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation: General Orders, September 24, 1862. Lincoln's first attempt at a more widespread policy of emancipation still included a proposal for compensation of states voluntarily adopting immediate or gradual emancipation, as well as voluntary colonization of former states on "this continent of elsewhere." |