the Emancipation Proclamation

NPR has a very good segment on the Emancipation Proclamation and the diverging opinions historians have on its meaning. As usual, I recommend you listen to the 9 minute broadcast which can readily be downloaded from the website.

Here is a quick reminder of the debates surrounding the interpretation of the Proclamation:

- Was the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation a momentous text meant to radically alter the situation of American Blacks?

- Was it merely a political gimmick, a tactical decision to save the Union?

- What did Lincoln believe he was doing when he signed the text which had been sitting in a drawer for several months?

- What should we make Lincoln's earlier declarations against Black freedom when he went as far as to blame the Negro for the war. In so doing was he asserting deeply held beliefs or trying to assuage the fears of his fellow Northerners?

In a new book on Lincoln and the Proclamation, Holzer reexamines the story of how Lincoln came to sign the document: massaging his hand so as not to quake and suggest that he had hesitated. This would suggest that the president was aware that this single piece of legislation might represent his most important legacy.

Holzer also looks at how the newly freed slaves interpreted Lincoln's actions and how they recognized him as the cause of their emancipation.

The second section of the article is devoted to the iconography of the Proclamation and is also well worth a glance.