On January 1, 1863, Lincoln subjected the Emancipation
Proclamation. The proclamation declared, "…all persons held as slaves within any States, or
designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against
the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."
The
Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves living in the states that were not
under the Union control. The proclamation also allowed African American
soldiers to fight for the Union, and that was really important to them.
It is strange to see this picture where the powerful Abraham
Lincoln is writing the Emancipation Proclamation in a room full of clutter,
with an old flag on the window serving as a curtain. The artist , David Gilmore Blyrthe, did have the president with his hand on a Bible, resting on a copy of the Constitution, which made the picture even more interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment