Emancipation Proclamation

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

Lincoln uses the message from the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to reiterate that emancipation within rebelling states will take effect immediately on January 1, 1863, the same day as the release of the proclamation. This intertextual moment reinforces the seriousness of the preliminary announcement and suggests that the audience knew about this action since the September announcement.

“[T]he Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

Lincoln continues with the citation from the preliminary announcement by discussing the importance of the US government and the military upholding and carrying out this abolition order. Specifically, Lincoln urges that these two entities must not prevent formerly enslaved peoples’ escape or other actions related to exercising their right to freedom. This example is one of many that demonstrate Lincoln’s demanding and direct tone throughout the proclamation.

“[A]nd the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.”

Once again, the repetition of the previous announcement emphasizes that this information was previously announced. Lincoln includes this section to illustrate that states within the Confederacy had the opportunity to rejoin the Union through congressional representation. He uses political jargon to demonstrate the specific process for rejoining to ensure there is no confusion for the reader.