Bob McCarty Writes

On this date in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War, announcing that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free.

Two months earlier, President Lincoln read his “preliminary proclamation” to members of his Cabinet, then decided to wait for a Union military victory to issue it.  On Sept. 22, 1862, following the victory at Antietam, he signed the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, formally alerting the Confederacy of his intention to free all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states. One hundred days later, with the Confederacy still in full rebellion, President Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation.

[Note: Do not, however, hold your breath waiting for Barack Obama to pay tribute to Lincoln and his Republican Abolitionist colleagues on this 146th anniversary of this important order.]