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Emancipation Proclamation: Document
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On July 13, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) consulted Secretaries William H. Seward and Gideon Welles on the particulars of the Emancipation Proclamation. Both men were speechless. Seward anticipated anarchy in the South and perhaps foreign intervention. Seeing that Welles was even more confused, Lincoln let the matter rest, but on July 22 he presented this draft proclamation to the full cabinet. Reaction was mixed. Cabinet secretaries Stanton and Chase advocated the document's immediate release, but Postmaster General Montgomery Blair foresaw defeat in the coming fall elections.
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The President had been working on drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation for some time before he read one to William H. Seward and Gideon Welles on July 13, 1862. They were both somewhat shocked by it. On July 22, Lincoln presented it to the full Cabinet at their regular meeting. Apparently the reaction was mixed, for and against, and Lincoln came away convinced that he needed to issue such a document from a position of strength, and that he was not then in that position (because of the disappointing military situation). A military victory was needed. The Proclamation would have to wait.
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In the bedroom where Lincoln is believed to have worked on the Emancipation Proclamation, a replica of the desk he wrote it on, now in the White House, will be part of a permanent exhibit. A visitor's center has been added in a separate building, and will include rotating exhibits, starting with a draft of the document.
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Ask students what they know about the Emancipation Proclamation. List their responses on the board. Tell students that they will analyze the document and go on a fact-finding mission to understand the context in which it was written.
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