“…on the first day of January… all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” — signed by President Abraham Lincoln, Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862.
The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most significant documents in United States history, will be on exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh from Wednesday, May 15, through Sunday, June 16.
On loan from the National Archives in Washington, the seven-page document represents the transformation of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation from intent to action. Only after Lincoln’s handwritten draft was transcribed, affixed with the Seal of the United States, and signed by him did the Proclamation carry the force of law.
However, the Proclamation did not apply to the five slave states that were not in rebellion nor to most regions already controlled by the Union army. Emancipation in these states would come after separate state actions and/or the December 1865 ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery illegal everywhere in the U.S.
The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not itself outlaw slavery, and did not make citizens of the ex-slaves (called freedmen). It made the eradication of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union.
Although the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.
The Emancipation Proclamation, a milestone along the road to slavery’s final destruction, has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.