WEBVTT - How Did Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Louren Vogelbaum. Here,

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<v Speaker 1>here's a question for your next trivia game. How many

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<v Speaker 1>enslaved people did the United States Emancipation Proclamation free? The

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<v Speaker 1>answer zero. You may have learned in school that President

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<v Speaker 1>Abraham Lincoln freed the enslaved with the Emancipation Proclamation, but

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<v Speaker 1>those history books were stretching the truth. Lincoln was a

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<v Speaker 1>savvy politician. The Emancipation Proclamation was a document that officially

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<v Speaker 1>changed nothing. The proclamation only covered the Confederate States, where

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<v Speaker 1>Congress had already passed laws essentially outlawing enslavement. Lincoln the

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<v Speaker 1>politician didn't want to risk alienating his voters in the

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<v Speaker 1>border states, and he didn't issue the proclamation until January

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<v Speaker 1>first of eighteen sixty three, two years after the Civil

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<v Speaker 1>War began. So what took Lincoln so long? He was

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for a big Union win. Issuing such a decree

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<v Speaker 1>while the North was losing the war would have looked

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<v Speaker 1>like an unenforceable, hollow threat. He got his win at

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<v Speaker 1>Antietam in the fall of eighteen sixty two, which turned

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<v Speaker 1>the tide. But unless they've lived in a state that

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<v Speaker 1>had abolished the institution of slavery. Enslaved people living in

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<v Speaker 1>the Union had to wait for their freedom until December

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<v Speaker 1>of eighteen sixty five, after Lincoln's assassination for the passage

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<v Speaker 1>of the thirteenth Amendment, which nationally abolished the practice, and

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<v Speaker 1>many people in the South waited nearly as long. June

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<v Speaker 1>nineteenth of eighteen sixty five was the day that news

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<v Speaker 1>of the proclamation finally reached parts of Texas, with the

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<v Speaker 1>Union soldiers two and a half years after it was

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<v Speaker 1>issued and two months after the Confederacy surrendered. The day

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<v Speaker 1>is now observed as June teenth. The Emancipation Proclamation wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily meant to free anyone. It was part of Lincoln's

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<v Speaker 1>strategy to demoralize the South, and it worked. Poorer white

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<v Speaker 1>people in the South were upset the war's cause could

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<v Speaker 1>no longer be claimed to be about states' rights. They

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<v Speaker 1>resented fighting to protect the quote unquote property of wealthy

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<v Speaker 1>landowners who themselves could buy their way out of having

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<v Speaker 1>to serve in the Confederate Army. Additionally, the proclamation ended

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<v Speaker 1>the quiet support that European countries like England and France

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<v Speaker 1>had given the Confederacy. Early in the war, the South

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<v Speaker 1>had hoped that these European powers would officially recognize the

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<v Speaker 1>Confederacy as an independent country, but England and France had

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<v Speaker 1>abolished slavery decades earlier and would not openly oppose a

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<v Speaker 1>country fighting to eradicate it as were it. Of the proclamation, spread,

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<v Speaker 1>formerly enslaved people left the South en mass. Some joined

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<v Speaker 1>the war effort on the Union side, which the proclamation

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<v Speaker 1>officially allowed, and the Confederacy suffered for the lack of

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<v Speaker 1>their labor. For example, the Union's victory at Vicksburg, which

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<v Speaker 1>gave them control of the Mississippi River, has been attributed

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<v Speaker 1>to the South's lack of fortifications there post proclamation. All

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<v Speaker 1>of which is why, despite its hefty limitations, the Emmancipation

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<v Speaker 1>Proclamation is remembered. It's still impressive for a seven hundred

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<v Speaker 1>word document. Unlike Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address, the Proclamation is

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<v Speaker 1>very legal and dry, apparently very much on purpose. The

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<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court was heavy with Southern sympathizers, so Lincoln knew

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<v Speaker 1>that if there was any sort of legal loophole that

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<v Speaker 1>the Court could use to challenge the proclamation. The Institution

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<v Speaker 1>of slavery would be preserved. In the document, Lincoln used

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<v Speaker 1>his authority as the commander in chief to end enslavement,

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<v Speaker 1>specifically as leverage against the rebelling states. He claimed that

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<v Speaker 1>this was a military tactic to suppress the rebellion, thus

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<v Speaker 1>skirting the Supreme Court's jurisdiction. Of course, by confining the

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<v Speaker 1>proclamation to areas of open rebellion, Lincoln had to exclude

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<v Speaker 1>areas that had been recaptured by the Union. Knowing this,

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<v Speaker 1>he actually issued a preliminary version of the proclamation back

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<v Speaker 1>in September of ai eighteen sixty two, with a note

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<v Speaker 1>that it wouldn't be enacted until January first of eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty three. He was giving the rebels one last chance

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<v Speaker 1>to hold onto the institution of slavery for a little

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<v Speaker 1>while longer as long as they agreed to rejoin the Union.

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<v Speaker 1>So in the proclamation, there's an entire paragraph devoted to

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<v Speaker 1>which states and in some cases, individual counties, were currently

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<v Speaker 1>in rebellion. Lincoln left this paragraph with blanks in it

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<v Speaker 1>until the day before it was published, a waiting for

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<v Speaker 1>word from military commanders about any new territories that could

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<v Speaker 1>be added to the list of exceptions. By listing counties individually,

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<v Speaker 1>Lincoln was able to avoid enslaver's lawsuits in federal courts.

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<v Speaker 1>The border states Missouri, Delaware, Kentucky, and Maryland were also excluded,

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<v Speaker 1>though enslaved people sometimes were able to cross to freedom

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<v Speaker 1>before those states governments revised their constitutions to include freedom

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<v Speaker 1>from enslavement. Lincoln may have wanted to completely abolish slavery,

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<v Speaker 1>but his main objectives were preserving the Union and winning

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<v Speaker 1>the war. He couldn't do that if he continued to

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<v Speaker 1>bleed states and the popular support of voters who were

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<v Speaker 1>at the time entirely white men, many of whom were landowners.

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<v Speaker 1>He told newspaper reporter James Scovell that the proclamation would

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<v Speaker 1>be quote my greatest and most enduring contribution to the

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<v Speaker 1>history of the war. Many abolitionists were unhappy with the

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<v Speaker 1>proclamation's limitations, though some did celebrate January first as Freedom Day.

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<v Speaker 1>In April of eighteen sixty four, the U. S. Senate

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<v Speaker 1>pushed for a constitutional amendment to abolish the institution of slavery,

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<v Speaker 1>which Lincoln supported. Though it was ultimately defeated in the

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<v Speaker 1>House of Representatives, the issue nearly caused lincoln re election

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<v Speaker 1>and his party, the Republicans, control of Congress. But Lincoln's

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<v Speaker 1>dedication is an argument that not all of his anti

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<v Speaker 1>slavery measures were politically motivated. A two other national constitutionals

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<v Speaker 1>that Lincoln had pushed for were passed in the five

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<v Speaker 1>years after his death. In addition to the Thirteenth, there's

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<v Speaker 1>the fourteenth, which grant citizens due process, and the fifteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>which opened voting rights to black men. We've talked about

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<v Speaker 1>these amendments on the show before and how they were

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<v Speaker 1>moves towards equity, but how they ultimately fell short of

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<v Speaker 1>guaranteeing these rights to black people in the face of

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<v Speaker 1>both racist policies enacted by state and local governments and

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<v Speaker 1>discriminations enforced by private companies and citizens. These rights didn't

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<v Speaker 1>stand on firm ground across the United States until the

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<v Speaker 1>Civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties. A full century later,

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<v Speaker 1>and we are still coping and sometimes failing to cope

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<v Speaker 1>with the repercussions of these centuries of inequity. So if

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<v Speaker 1>you're listening to this episode the day it comes out

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<v Speaker 1>on June teenth, or any day really we hear it,

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<v Speaker 1>brain stuff, hope that you'll observe it. Well, anyway that

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<v Speaker 1>you want to. I'm not going to tell you what

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<v Speaker 1>to do, but I would suggest continuing to seek out

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<v Speaker 1>the real, complicated history of our world as so to

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<v Speaker 1>better understand the way that it is and to see

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<v Speaker 1>how it could be better. Today's episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>the article how the Band's Patient Proclamation Work on how

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<v Speaker 1>stuffworks dot Com, written by Tiffany Connors. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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