1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Louren Vogelbaum. Here, 2 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: here's a question for your next trivia game. How many 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: enslaved people did the United States Emancipation Proclamation free? The 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: answer zero. You may have learned in school that President 5 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln freed the enslaved with the Emancipation Proclamation, but 6 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: those history books were stretching the truth. Lincoln was a 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: savvy politician. The Emancipation Proclamation was a document that officially 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: changed nothing. The proclamation only covered the Confederate States, where 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: Congress had already passed laws essentially outlawing enslavement. Lincoln the 10 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: politician didn't want to risk alienating his voters in the 11 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: border states, and he didn't issue the proclamation until January 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: first of eighteen sixty three, two years after the Civil 13 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: War began. So what took Lincoln so long? He was 14 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: waiting for a big Union win. Issuing such a decree 15 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: while the North was losing the war would have looked 16 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,959 Speaker 1: like an unenforceable, hollow threat. He got his win at 17 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: Antietam in the fall of eighteen sixty two, which turned 18 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: the tide. But unless they've lived in a state that 19 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: had abolished the institution of slavery. Enslaved people living in 20 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: the Union had to wait for their freedom until December 21 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty five, after Lincoln's assassination for the passage 22 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: of the thirteenth Amendment, which nationally abolished the practice, and 23 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: many people in the South waited nearly as long. June 24 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: nineteenth of eighteen sixty five was the day that news 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: of the proclamation finally reached parts of Texas, with the 26 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: Union soldiers two and a half years after it was 27 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: issued and two months after the Confederacy surrendered. The day 28 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: is now observed as June teenth. The Emancipation Proclamation wasn't 29 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: necessarily meant to free anyone. It was part of Lincoln's 30 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:58,559 Speaker 1: strategy to demoralize the South, and it worked. Poorer white 31 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: people in the South were upset the war's cause could 32 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: no longer be claimed to be about states' rights. They 33 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: resented fighting to protect the quote unquote property of wealthy 34 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: landowners who themselves could buy their way out of having 35 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: to serve in the Confederate Army. Additionally, the proclamation ended 36 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: the quiet support that European countries like England and France 37 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: had given the Confederacy. Early in the war, the South 38 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: had hoped that these European powers would officially recognize the 39 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: Confederacy as an independent country, but England and France had 40 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,240 Speaker 1: abolished slavery decades earlier and would not openly oppose a 41 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: country fighting to eradicate it as were it. Of the proclamation, spread, 42 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: formerly enslaved people left the South en mass. Some joined 43 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: the war effort on the Union side, which the proclamation 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: officially allowed, and the Confederacy suffered for the lack of 45 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,400 Speaker 1: their labor. For example, the Union's victory at Vicksburg, which 46 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: gave them control of the Mississippi River, has been attributed 47 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:00,359 Speaker 1: to the South's lack of fortifications there post proclamation. All 48 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: of which is why, despite its hefty limitations, the Emmancipation 49 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:08,239 Speaker 1: Proclamation is remembered. It's still impressive for a seven hundred 50 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: word document. Unlike Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address, the Proclamation is 51 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: very legal and dry, apparently very much on purpose. The 52 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: Supreme Court was heavy with Southern sympathizers, so Lincoln knew 53 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: that if there was any sort of legal loophole that 54 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: the Court could use to challenge the proclamation. The Institution 55 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: of slavery would be preserved. In the document, Lincoln used 56 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: his authority as the commander in chief to end enslavement, 57 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: specifically as leverage against the rebelling states. He claimed that 58 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: this was a military tactic to suppress the rebellion, thus 59 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: skirting the Supreme Court's jurisdiction. Of course, by confining the 60 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: proclamation to areas of open rebellion, Lincoln had to exclude 61 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: areas that had been recaptured by the Union. Knowing this, 62 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: he actually issued a preliminary version of the proclamation back 63 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: in September of ai eighteen sixty two, with a note 64 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: that it wouldn't be enacted until January first of eighteen 65 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: sixty three. He was giving the rebels one last chance 66 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: to hold onto the institution of slavery for a little 67 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: while longer as long as they agreed to rejoin the Union. 68 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: So in the proclamation, there's an entire paragraph devoted to 69 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: which states and in some cases, individual counties, were currently 70 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: in rebellion. Lincoln left this paragraph with blanks in it 71 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: until the day before it was published, a waiting for 72 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: word from military commanders about any new territories that could 73 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: be added to the list of exceptions. By listing counties individually, 74 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: Lincoln was able to avoid enslaver's lawsuits in federal courts. 75 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: The border states Missouri, Delaware, Kentucky, and Maryland were also excluded, 76 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: though enslaved people sometimes were able to cross to freedom 77 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: before those states governments revised their constitutions to include freedom 78 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: from enslavement. Lincoln may have wanted to completely abolish slavery, 79 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: but his main objectives were preserving the Union and winning 80 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: the war. He couldn't do that if he continued to 81 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: bleed states and the popular support of voters who were 82 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: at the time entirely white men, many of whom were landowners. 83 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: He told newspaper reporter James Scovell that the proclamation would 84 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: be quote my greatest and most enduring contribution to the 85 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: history of the war. Many abolitionists were unhappy with the 86 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: proclamation's limitations, though some did celebrate January first as Freedom Day. 87 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: In April of eighteen sixty four, the U. S. Senate 88 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: pushed for a constitutional amendment to abolish the institution of slavery, 89 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: which Lincoln supported. Though it was ultimately defeated in the 90 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,239 Speaker 1: House of Representatives, the issue nearly caused lincoln re election 91 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: and his party, the Republicans, control of Congress. But Lincoln's 92 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: dedication is an argument that not all of his anti 93 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: slavery measures were politically motivated. A two other national constitutionals 94 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: that Lincoln had pushed for were passed in the five 95 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,280 Speaker 1: years after his death. In addition to the Thirteenth, there's 96 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: the fourteenth, which grant citizens due process, and the fifteenth, 97 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: which opened voting rights to black men. We've talked about 98 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: these amendments on the show before and how they were 99 00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: moves towards equity, but how they ultimately fell short of 100 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: guaranteeing these rights to black people in the face of 101 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: both racist policies enacted by state and local governments and 102 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: discriminations enforced by private companies and citizens. These rights didn't 103 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: stand on firm ground across the United States until the 104 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: Civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties. A full century later, 105 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: and we are still coping and sometimes failing to cope 106 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: with the repercussions of these centuries of inequity. So if 107 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: you're listening to this episode the day it comes out 108 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,479 Speaker 1: on June teenth, or any day really we hear it, 109 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: brain stuff, hope that you'll observe it. Well, anyway that 110 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: you want to. I'm not going to tell you what 111 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: to do, but I would suggest continuing to seek out 112 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 1: the real, complicated history of our world as so to 113 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: better understand the way that it is and to see 114 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: how it could be better. Today's episode is based on 115 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: the article how the Band's Patient Proclamation Work on how 116 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot Com, written by Tiffany Connors. Brain Stuff is 117 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks 118 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more 119 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 120 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.