Send an ecard of this image

Act of Justice

President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan to abolish slavery on this day in 1862.

Lincoln warned the seceded states of the Confederacy that if they did not return to the union before the year ended, he would outlaw slavery in those states. The Confederate states refused to rejoin, and on Jan. 1, 1963, the president issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which he later regarded as "the central act of my administration, and the greatest event of the nineteenth century."

An excerpt of the Emancipation Proclamation follows.

"And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. ...

"And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God."

Source: Encyclopædia Britannica Online at http://www.eb.com.

Pictured: Hortense Ferne, 1885–1976, Lincoln, about 1930s–1950s, lithograph on paper, 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Frank McClure.