Today we celebrate an important day in American history that is usually ignored. On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln changed the course of history by issuing the PRELIMINARY Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation announced that all slaves in territory that was still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863, would be free. By making the war about freeing the slaves, the Proclamation struck a blow against the Confederate States of America (CSA), particularly in Great Britain where the government was committed to the world-wide abolition of slavery. The CSA ignored the challenge, the war lasted another twenty months, and the slaves were freed.
An excerpt of the text (see pic) reads: “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; and the 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.”
To read the full transcript , click HERE.
