February 18, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 30th Episode of our Story of America Series with Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, Bill reads and explains one of President Lincoln's greatest accomplishments—The Emancipation Proclamation.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next another
installment are thirtieth of our series about Us the Story
of America series with Hillsdale College professor and author of
Land of Hope, professor Bill McLay. By eighteen sixty two,
the Civil War was in full bloody swing from Antietam
to Shiloh to Fredericksburg. Lincoln had gone through general after
(00:33):
general after general, and the situation was bleak. It was
amidst all of this that Lincoln decided to take on
another monumental task, emancipation. Let's get into the story take
it away.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Bill Lincoln was not only a statesman, but a master politician,
and he understood that it was always perilous to get
too far ahead of power, sentiment, and opinion. Weighing all
of these things, Lincoln decided in July of eighteen sixty
two that the government should adopt a strong anti slavery position,
(01:12):
one that could be justified on military and diplomatic ground.
He knew that freed slaves could and would fight in
the war on the Union side. He also knew that
abolition would bring support from the foreign capitals of the world,
a huge diplomatic victory or the Union. As a constitution man,
Lincoln would have vastly preferred for the Confederate States to
(01:36):
abolish slavery on their own, but that didn't happen, wasn't
likely to happen, and Lincoln was now prepared to use
the power of his office, his power as commander in
chief under the Constitution, explicitly by the Constitution itself, used
that power to begin the process of ending slavery. Discussions
(02:03):
with his cabinet about such a bold move met with
mixed reactions. Some feared absolute chaos in the South for
an intervention precisely what Lincoln did not want. Others, like
Secretary of State William Seward, thought it was a good idea,
but thought the timing was wrong. Better to wait until
a big victory or two before announcing such a thing.
(02:25):
Lincoln actually followed Seward's advice. It was a mere five
days after Anteenam, on September twenty second, eighteen sixty two,
that Lincoln made public the first part of what has
come to be called the Emancipation Proclamation. Like Lincoln's Gettysburg Address,
which was notoriously short, a mere two hundred and seventy
two words, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a bit longer, at
(02:50):
seven hundred and nineteen words, but they were words that
changed America, changed our history, changed our way of life.
They're worth reading. All persons held as slaves within any
state or designated part of a State, the people whereof
(03:12):
shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall
be then thenceforward and forever free. And the executive Government
of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
(03:32):
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and
will do no act or acts to repress such person
or any of them, in any efforts they may make
for their actual freedom. There it is. It's a rather
lawyerly state, as befits the man who proclaimed it. And
(03:55):
yet it's important to note here why declamation was actually
a very limited one. It didn't free slaves everywhere in
the United States, just Confederate states during the Civil War,
which meant that theoretically Southern states had ended their involvement
in the work, could keep their slaves. This is an
(04:17):
important point because it's how they can justified as constitutional.
His efforts on behalf of abolition. And let's get back
to the proclamation, They can continue that the Executive will,
on the first day of January fourth said by proclamation
(04:38):
designated the states and parts of States, if any in
which the people thereof, respectively, shall be in rebellion against
the United States, And the fact that any state or
the people thereof, shall on that day be in good
faith represented in the Congress of the United States by
members chosen there too at elections. We're in a majority
(04:59):
of the quality voters of such state shall have participated, shall,
in the absence of strong countervailing testimon it be deemed
conclusive evidence that such state and the people thereof are
not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, Therefore,
I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue
(05:21):
of the power in me vested as Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States, in
time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government
of the United States, and as a fit and necessary
war measure for suppressing said rebellion, on this first day
of January and the year of our Lord one thousand,
(05:41):
eight hundred and sixty three, and in accordance with my
purpose to do so, publicly proclaimed for the full period
of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned
ordering designated the states and parts of states, wherein the
people thereof, respectively, are this day and rebellion against the
states the following to it Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
(06:09):
South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, and which accepted parts
are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation
were not issued, and by virtue of the power and
for the purpose of force, in I do order and
declare that all persons held as slaves within the said
designated states and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall
(06:33):
be free, And that the Executive Government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities thereof, well recognize and
maintain the freedom of such persons. And I hereby enjoying
upon the people so declared to be free, to have
stained from all violence, unless in necessary self defense. And
(06:53):
I recommend to them that, in all cases, when allowed,
they labor faithfully for reasonable wage. And I further declare
and make none of that such persons a suitable condition
will be received into the Armed Force of the United States.
The garrison forts physicians, stations at other places, and demand
vessels of all sorts in said serb. And upon this
(07:16):
ax itscerely believed to be an act of justice warranted
by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I, in the considerate
judgment of mankind, to the gracious favor of Almighty God,
a witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
cause the seal of the United States to be affixed
(07:40):
down in the City of Washington's first day of January,
the year of our Lord hundred and sixty three and
of the Independence of the United States of America the
eighty seventh, by the President Abraham Lincoln William H. Sewart,
Secretary of State. Now, there were many critics who wait
(08:02):
for something more definitive and were complete from Lincoln on
the issues of slavery, something more rousing, something more magnificent,
something that rivaled some of the more beautiful and powerful
language of the Declaration of Independence, something that would clearly
and dramatically end the institution of slavery once and for all.
(08:27):
But this criticism missed the point of Lincoln's genius. Lincoln
was careful not because he was a coward, but because
he wanted slavery ended in the right way, and that
meant compliance with the Constitution. The words by any means
necessary were not in Lincoln's vocabulary. He had too much
(08:51):
regard and respect for the Founders. He knew that an
amendment to the Constitution was the right way to go,
the proper way to go, the fitting way to go,
and the constitutional way to go. Despite his profound misgivings
about the moral tragedy and moral crime of slavery, he
(09:12):
revered the Constitution more than he hated slavery, and it
might be useful to add he revered the Constitution because
he realized that without the Constitution, the Constitution werebdig tossed
aside as so much tissue standing in the way of progress.
The result might have led to a smembered nation that
(09:37):
was incapable of sustaining individual liberties such as they were
founded in the Bill of Rights, let alone effect the
difficult task of abolishing slavery. So the Emancipation Proclamation came
at the right time, and it had the right moral
tone that shifted the purpose of the war. It made
(09:59):
the more about bigger things think. It would make the
same point much more pointedly at his Gettysburg address in
November of eighteen sixty three. The war after the Emancipation
Proclamation and then after Gettysburg was no longer just about
preserving the Union. It was about something so much bigger.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Monty Montgomery, himself a Hillsdale College graduate and
Hillsdale College professor Bill McLay, author of Land of Hope,
and the best line of all in this piece. He
revered the Constitution more than he hated slavery, and the
way forward was a constitutional amendment. The story of the
Emancipation Proclamation. Here on our American Stories
And we returned to our American stories. Up next another
installment are thirtieth of our series about Us the Story
of America series with Hillsdale College professor and author of
Land of Hope, professor Bill McLay. By eighteen sixty two,
the Civil War was in full bloody swing from Antietam
to Shiloh to Fredericksburg. Lincoln had gone through general after
(00:33):
general after general, and the situation was bleak. It was
amidst all of this that Lincoln decided to take on
another monumental task, emancipation. Let's get into the story take
it away.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Bill Lincoln was not only a statesman, but a master politician,
and he understood that it was always perilous to get
too far ahead of power, sentiment, and opinion. Weighing all
of these things, Lincoln decided in July of eighteen sixty
two that the government should adopt a strong anti slavery position,
(01:12):
one that could be justified on military and diplomatic ground.
He knew that freed slaves could and would fight in
the war on the Union side. He also knew that
abolition would bring support from the foreign capitals of the world,
a huge diplomatic victory or the Union. As a constitution man,
Lincoln would have vastly preferred for the Confederate States to
(01:36):
abolish slavery on their own, but that didn't happen, wasn't
likely to happen, and Lincoln was now prepared to use
the power of his office, his power as commander in
chief under the Constitution, explicitly by the Constitution itself, used
that power to begin the process of ending slavery. Discussions
(02:03):
with his cabinet about such a bold move met with
mixed reactions. Some feared absolute chaos in the South for
an intervention precisely what Lincoln did not want. Others, like
Secretary of State William Seward, thought it was a good idea,
but thought the timing was wrong. Better to wait until
a big victory or two before announcing such a thing.
(02:25):
Lincoln actually followed Seward's advice. It was a mere five
days after Anteenam, on September twenty second, eighteen sixty two,
that Lincoln made public the first part of what has
come to be called the Emancipation Proclamation. Like Lincoln's Gettysburg Address,
which was notoriously short, a mere two hundred and seventy
two words, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a bit longer, at
(02:50):
seven hundred and nineteen words, but they were words that
changed America, changed our history, changed our way of life.
They're worth reading. All persons held as slaves within any
state or designated part of a State, the people whereof
(03:12):
shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall
be then thenceforward and forever free. And the executive Government
of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof,
(03:32):
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and
will do no act or acts to repress such person
or any of them, in any efforts they may make
for their actual freedom. There it is. It's a rather
lawyerly state, as befits the man who proclaimed it. And
(03:55):
yet it's important to note here why declamation was actually
a very limited one. It didn't free slaves everywhere in
the United States, just Confederate states during the Civil War,
which meant that theoretically Southern states had ended their involvement
in the work, could keep their slaves. This is an
(04:17):
important point because it's how they can justified as constitutional.
His efforts on behalf of abolition. And let's get back
to the proclamation, They can continue that the Executive will,
on the first day of January fourth said by proclamation
(04:38):
designated the states and parts of States, if any in
which the people thereof, respectively, shall be in rebellion against
the United States, And the fact that any state or
the people thereof, shall on that day be in good
faith represented in the Congress of the United States by
members chosen there too at elections. We're in a majority
(04:59):
of the quality voters of such state shall have participated, shall,
in the absence of strong countervailing testimon it be deemed
conclusive evidence that such state and the people thereof are
not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, Therefore,
I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue
(05:21):
of the power in me vested as Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States, in
time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government
of the United States, and as a fit and necessary
war measure for suppressing said rebellion, on this first day
of January and the year of our Lord one thousand,
(05:41):
eight hundred and sixty three, and in accordance with my
purpose to do so, publicly proclaimed for the full period
of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned
ordering designated the states and parts of states, wherein the
people thereof, respectively, are this day and rebellion against the
states the following to it Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
(06:09):
South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, and which accepted parts
are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation
were not issued, and by virtue of the power and
for the purpose of force, in I do order and
declare that all persons held as slaves within the said
designated states and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall
(06:33):
be free, And that the Executive Government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities thereof, well recognize and
maintain the freedom of such persons. And I hereby enjoying
upon the people so declared to be free, to have
stained from all violence, unless in necessary self defense. And
(06:53):
I recommend to them that, in all cases, when allowed,
they labor faithfully for reasonable wage. And I further declare
and make none of that such persons a suitable condition
will be received into the Armed Force of the United States.
The garrison forts physicians, stations at other places, and demand
vessels of all sorts in said serb. And upon this
(07:16):
ax itscerely believed to be an act of justice warranted
by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I, in the considerate
judgment of mankind, to the gracious favor of Almighty God,
a witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
cause the seal of the United States to be affixed
(07:40):
down in the City of Washington's first day of January,
the year of our Lord hundred and sixty three and
of the Independence of the United States of America the
eighty seventh, by the President Abraham Lincoln William H. Sewart,
Secretary of State. Now, there were many critics who wait
(08:02):
for something more definitive and were complete from Lincoln on
the issues of slavery, something more rousing, something more magnificent,
something that rivaled some of the more beautiful and powerful
language of the Declaration of Independence, something that would clearly
and dramatically end the institution of slavery once and for all.
(08:27):
But this criticism missed the point of Lincoln's genius. Lincoln
was careful not because he was a coward, but because
he wanted slavery ended in the right way, and that
meant compliance with the Constitution. The words by any means
necessary were not in Lincoln's vocabulary. He had too much
(08:51):
regard and respect for the Founders. He knew that an
amendment to the Constitution was the right way to go,
the proper way to go, the fitting way to go,
and the constitutional way to go. Despite his profound misgivings
about the moral tragedy and moral crime of slavery, he
(09:12):
revered the Constitution more than he hated slavery, and it
might be useful to add he revered the Constitution because
he realized that without the Constitution, the Constitution werebdig tossed
aside as so much tissue standing in the way of progress.
The result might have led to a smembered nation that
(09:37):
was incapable of sustaining individual liberties such as they were
founded in the Bill of Rights, let alone effect the
difficult task of abolishing slavery. So the Emancipation Proclamation came
at the right time, and it had the right moral
tone that shifted the purpose of the war. It made
(09:59):
the more about bigger things think. It would make the
same point much more pointedly at his Gettysburg address in
November of eighteen sixty three. The war after the Emancipation
Proclamation and then after Gettysburg was no longer just about
preserving the Union. It was about something so much bigger.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Monty Montgomery, himself a Hillsdale College graduate and
Hillsdale College professor Bill McLay, author of Land of Hope,
and the best line of all in this piece. He
revered the Constitution more than he hated slavery, and the
way forward was a constitutional amendment. The story of the
Emancipation Proclamation. Here on our American Stories
Host
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