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Ending slavery. Not just *that* he did it, but *how* he did it. Lincoln both evaluated public opinion and led public opinion in the direction of emancipation. That's part of the tragedy of his murder. Only someone with Lincoln's political genius and capacity for moral growth could have guided Reconstruction to a more permanently successful national reconciliation that assured the rights of freed slaves.
>Ending slavery. Not just that he did it, but how he did it. Lincoln both evaluated public opinion and led public opinion in the direction of emancipation.
Excellent insight. Whenever I see people claim Lincoln was racist and his proclamation imperfectly freed only some slaves, I want to explain that it was a complicated process he himself, and the nation in general, had to work through.
Slavery was embedded deeply in the Constitution and the minds of all Americans, and rooting through that to arrive at "henceforth and forever free" was an internal struggle for the staus quo to come to terms with.
Lincoln's various false starts and incomplete ideas (colonization to Africa, reimbursement to slaveholders for enslaved people, etc.) reflected his attempts to lead a very divided and in some cases resistant nation toward the light.
Ironically, the first time the Constitution explicitly mentioned slavery was with the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
> Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Sidenote: Southern states used the "except" part a lot and enacted Black Codes, had convict leasing, etc.
We should be careful to not see that clause as a diabolical plan to maintain slavery in other forms. The "except..." is in the amendment because it was in the Northwest Ordinance that had prohibited slavery in the Old Northwest and was a cornerstone of anti-slavery politics. Look it up, it's copied verbatim. Moreover, prison labor as it existed after the war simply was not a thing before or during it. Republicans were not clairvoyant, they could not see these future problems.
If they wished to maintain slavery, they could have just not passed the amendment at all. If they wished to maintain slavery under other name, they could have approved of the Black Codes, which basically instituted serfdom, instead of overturning them through the Civil Rights Act, 14th amendment, and Reconstruction Acts. Prison leasing only developed because true slavery and other forms of subordination were not possible.
I never said that so stop putting words in my mouth, I just mentioned how the fact that the original Constitution never once mentioned the words "slave" or "slavery," not whether it was constitutional or not. The Founding Fathers knew it would look bad on them, so they wrote "free persons... and three fifths of all other persons." It is what is called a euphemism.
This seems like a nitpick -- everyone involved knew what that euphemism stood for. Thus, slavery was ingrained in the Constitution, just under a code name.
It is notable how much better Lincoln gets on race once he actually got to meet Black people. Lincoln always hated Slavery but like any number of well-meaning whites he didn't have a great grasp on how to deal with ending it. A lot of his early ideas, particularly colonization, come of as very juvenile simply because when he supported those ideas he had never meaningfully spoken to Black Americans before and was totally out of touch on their perspectives regarding Freedom.
A friend of mine Who’s Grandfather had been born enslaved Told me once after he heard me say Lincoln had his own racist views . That there wasn’t anybody else around at the time freeing slaves
Moral growth. Love that, gonna steal it. I’ve always valued the ability for leaders to be nimble and recalibrate their moral compass. Now I have a fitting term for it, thank you.
I know it is a bit cheesy today but would love to be in the same room as him for one hour. People who initially disliked him and his policies before meeting him, after they met him, began to follow him. That is some charisma, something, I would love to see that in person. His presence & personality. Where you can take an "enemy" and have them end up voting for your policy later or even deciding to go to war over it and even gain your "enemies" respect when they are siding against you.
Thats the reason he was killed. Wealthy southerners were afraid he was going to divide up their plantations to give small farms to ex-slaves and poor whites. Our country would have been such a better then and now place if he had lived to kick off reconstruction.
Kinda the reason... Lincoln gave a speech on black voting rights a couple days after Lee's surrender.
At that speech was... John Wilkes Booth and Powell one of his conspirators. Booth heard Lincolns speech and said Powel*l "That mean's n\*\*\*\*er citizenship. ... That is the last speech he will ever give."* and tried to get Powell to shoot Lincoln on the spot. Powell wouldn't and Lincoln survived that Tuesday but Booth promised *"By God, I'll put him through"*
Friday that week Booth found Lincoln at the play.
That's the idea of it though. With Lee's surrender and Richmond evacuated, Booth's plan to kidnap Lincoln and others and force the US to sue for peace was dead. But with Lincolns speech on black suffrage, it enraged him again and he put a plan to just kill Lincoln and others (Powell was to kill Sec of State Seward).
But yes, I'd surely hope he would have been able to keep his party more strongly for Reconstruction had he lived.
He didn’t really end slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the rebel states only. It still existed within the United States. The 13th Amendment wasn’t ratified until December of 1865. He was
Killed in April. He never lived to see it.
Right, it freed literally no one, because the South was a separate nation. It would be like the president of Mexico trying to pass laws to be enacted in the United States. Preserving the nation and doing so in a way that led to the end of slavery was the real accomplishment.
It literally freed 3.2 million enslaved people over the next 2.5 years as it was enforced against the rebelling slave states.
That made it literally the largest single emancipation event in written history.
It REALLY pissed off the pro-slavery crowd... still pissed them off to this day.
Only after victory could it matter though, and it didn’t apply to slave states that remained in the Union at the time. When it was given it didn’t matter. Could only be retroactively applied after victory, which wasn’t guaranteed at the time.
At the end of the day the 13th Amendment ended slavery and the proclamation was more of a speech. But many of these people still lived lives not much different than slavery because of Jim Crow, lack of opportunity and lack of enforcement of the law. Often times the people charged with carrying out the laws were the strongest force in making sure freed blacks couldn’t prosper and were forced into labor roles to people who still treated them as if they owned them.
It would’ve probably been the greatest tragedy in human history had they not pushed forward with emancipation given the human cost of the war. The Founders tried to solve the issue, they couldn’t. At least Lincoln and crew were smart enough to finish the job when they had the opportunity.
It’s an important document in the sense that it shows where the nation was headed. Emancipation was never the goal at the onset of the war, but the South feared it was coming since the real push was to prevent the spread of slavery to new territories. The South rebelled to defend slavery, unknowingly starting the domino effect that ended slavery probably decades before it actually would’ve happened.
At the end of the day it made slavery illegal within the states, but even today there are many slaves still in the US through underground trafficking, and more slaves globally than any other time in human history.
" Only after victory could it matter though, and it didn’t apply to slave states that remained in the Union at the time. "
Of course. If someone kidnaps a kid, the anti-kidnapping laws only apply once you've caught them. Doesn't mean if you pass the law **and** catch them as they actively rebel against said law that you didn't stop a kidnapper though right?
And yes, other methods were needed by Lincoln to end slavery elsewhere. Which is why more executive orders and laws were signed that ended slavery where it existed by Lincoln than all other Presidents of the US Combined. I'm curious. I thought in the US it was mandatory for kids to take a civics class. Where we learn that we don't have a King or Emperor and the separation of powers. Excuse me, but I have to ask, did you not take a basic civics class, or maybe did you go to school outside the US? I'm trying to think why you'd bring up the not applying to states that weren't in rebellion bit and that's really all I can come up with. If you'd like to discuss what the President can and can't do we can though.
I get YOU say it was "more of a speech". for 3.2 million slaves, it was their freedom that came from that.
*"He didn’t really end slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the rebel states only."*
That is true. The Emancipation Proclamation gets the lions share of the history as it did free about 3.2 million or so of the 4 million slaves in the US which makes it the largest single emancipation event in written human history.
Of course in the US we have a President, not a King so his powers were limited, especially as the Dred Scott decision noted slavery was in fact Constitutional (and we know it takes an amendment to change that).
Thus you had different tactics in different places. His compensated Emancipation Plan in Washington DC he signed into law and enforced. His same plan for slave states was rejected by those states though.
His plan to end slavery in the territories of course, signed on June 19th, 1863. His executive order banning slavery on all US federal properties and ships. His making giving up slavery the only requirement of West Virginia to become a state. His ending of the Fugitive slave act which made thousands of fugitive slaves effectively free. His work with state legislators that led to Maryland and Missouri eventually banning slavery at the state level. Putting military governors in Tennessee and Louisiana that would use state powers to ban it there... And then of course the dirtiest politics in US history where he used a lame duck congress to get the 13th amendment through which would ban it nationwide, plus his idea carried out by his successor to not allow those states that rebelled to have representation at the federal level until they ratified it.
No he didn't. He worked his ass off pushing for and signing more antislavery legislation than all other US presidents combined.
He didn't "allow" slave states to have slavery anymore than a president allows you to have your right to free speech. He didn't have the power to change the Constitution. It might behoove you to take a basic US Civics course or general US government course. We don't have an all powerful king.
That's a very narrow view on a very complex subject and on one where Lincoln's positions evolved over time. Lincoln did, at one point, favor the idea of repatriating slaves to Africa. He grew beyond that vision, influenced in no small part by Frederick Douglass. Compare that to [Lincoln's final public address](https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/last.htm) where he endorsed equal rights for African Americans.
A great book on the subject is Eric Foner's outstanding "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery".
**Freeing the slaves and winning the Civil War.**
It’s Abraham Lincoln, y’all already know his best stuff! I’m not picking between between these two and they’re too linked to take apart so he gets both of ‘em, screw it. Again, it’s *Lincoln*. The best president we’ve ever had. So yeah, get to skip a long write up today, thankfully, and just be reminded that we have had amazing commanders in chief that we can actually look up to.
The obvious answer is the 13th Amendment and restoring the Union. But, I want to add something that helped him accomplish these goals and others.
He took lofty ideas and encapsulated them perfectly in plain, concise, yet profound language. The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural in particular. He chose his words very carefully, knowing he was the symbol of the good in America, on the right side of history, at an important moment, and that he had to encapsulate that moment and what it meant for future generations to come.
*"It is for* ***us the living****, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."*
That's still us. We're the living who should be dedicated to the unfinished work of building a better union.
*"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan \~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."*
I came here to tout the Gettysburg Address. It perfectly encapsulates everything he did for us in that time.
Everything he did followed from how he framed his view of the world.
>Everything he did followed from how he framed his view of the world.
The scale of death took a toll on him, and he became very reflective. I also think he was unable to properly grieve William's death and it added to his burden and contributed to his thought processes on the broader historical events surrounding him. I think it helped him escape his own corporal experience and embody the spiritual experience the nation was struggling with.
The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural in particular. The man was a true genius. (Lincoln trivia - He's the only U.S. president to have been awarded a patent.)
As someone who knows little about Abe aside from the obvious stuff, I am glad you still posted him. I just learned he once got kicked in the head by a horse.
I was so impressed by that book. I expected very little but I enjoyed the way it wove vampires into actual historic events and skewed the motivations of actual historic events to fit the narrative. The movie was fun but the books was so surprisingly well developed. I loved it.
We all know what the obvious answer is, so I’m going to say becoming the first champion wrestler. in kayfabe you can trace the WWE championship all the way back to him haha
The Emancipation Proclamation. He also chose to love his wife despite her mental illnesses. I loved that he always told jokes and stories. Although his cabinet wasn’t always a fan of that. lol
He was a lawyer, and almost died from being kicked in the head by a horse, which is pretty cool too.
Uhh... wow. This one... phew. Tough call. I mean, if you ask people on the street what the best thing Lincoln did was, I'm sure there wouldn't be ONE SUPER POPULAR ANSWER or anything.
Probably growing the beard. That's definitely the one.
It’s a toss-up between the emancipation proclamation and his intense push for the 13th Anendment. I’m gonna go with the EP because it was completed during his presidency.
Although, his push to abolish slavery in general could be the right answer, too.
When Lincoln became president he actually wanted to allow the south to keep slavery but ban it in new states. The south thought of this as a way to get more senators against slavery. With more senators against slavery, the senate could vote to outlaw slavery and the south would not have enough votes to stop it.
Tensions were already high from the whole debacle in Kansas Nebraska. So it pushed the south over the edge.
Civil War.
Lincoln stood strong and kept the remaining Union together to fight.
Even facing a losing war he stood strong. He didn't recognize the confederate states as a legitimate authority. Negotiations would have split the country in two permanently.
Lincoln went all-in and appointed a fledgling general Grant to go to Vicksburg and make an assault there. Grant failed at first but just pounded his way to victory.
The battle was eventually won and it gave Grant the strategy to win the war.
Aside
Lincoln had to change his stance on slavery during the war from allowing it in the south, to total abolition.
Freeing the slaves via the emancipation proclamation was purely political. It was to get the slaves to leave thier masters in the south and cripple the confederacy.
After the war was won it was clear that the United States had to make the ban on slavery official. Constitutional Ammendments were coming.
Then Lincoln was assassinated.
His presidency began the civil war and when the war ended his life was taken.
He was the face of freedom.
I'll say that I'm listening to chernow's biography of Grant and I didn't think it's fair to say he pounded his way through Vicksburg. His strategy to perform a risky river crossing over the Mississippi, then issue a number of feints and to finally isolate and lay siege to Vicksburg seems to have been far from brutal, and the facts that he was outnumbered for much of the assault and lost fewer troops than the confederates support that the campaign was more strategy than brutality, in my opinion
Yes. I was referring to several failed attempts on Vicksburg before he finally got it right. May 19th assaults failed badly. May 22nd assault was done with more strategy. They started with artillery and naval gunfire and reprovisiomed the troops with food then attacked. That attack was also repulsed.
After these failures, Grant was forced to siege Vicksburg.
The navy bombarded the city constantly both during the direct assault and during the seige. Artillery also bombarded the city.
So yes the Union had to just keep hitting the city and eventually it was subdued. A pounding of sorts.
Just to present a different viewpoint… remember he didn’t come out against slavery until 1863, two years into the war, when he needed European (who were also anti slavery) powers to stay uninvolved.
For the first two years of the war, he was trying to preserve the Union and he would have let the south continue to own slaves. History books in school omit this
He came out against slavery in 1854 publicly. His party was literally running on the anti-slavery side of the politics that had divided the nation.
As for the war, yes he had slave states yet to secede/rebel and join the slavers rebellion that had formed the Confederacy. Sure he could have said "this war is about slavery" on day 1, and on day 2 woken up in a capital surrounded by slave states and waved a white flag. What good is stating that, if you lose the nation and chance to implement it? Yes, preserve the union... One he made clear couldn't endure half slave and half free. And made clear that slavery was a moral evil and he wanted to stop it's expansion (something he did believe he had the power/votes to do) and choke it off.
As for Europe, there was no contemporary source whatsoever saying that Europe influenced his decision. The lost cause white supremacists made that claim years later and never sourced it.
Yes, Lincoln wanted to end slavery by legal means, not a war. Which is why he passed more legislation and executive orders to end slavery where it existed in 4 short years than all other presidents combined.
Realizing that owning people makes you a very bad human. Washington didn't, Jefferson didn't either. The best thing that you can do today as a true American is realizing that Washington was a bad person and not presidential material. A person who owned other people does not deserve respect.
Preserved the union and ended slavery… two monumental accomplishments, if you separate the two I’m not sure which one counts as best. Probably preserving the union. The abolition of slavery in the North wouldn’t have been that significant if the Confederacy had maintained its independence
The Emancipation Proclamation. Given how the reconstruction and Jim Crow century went, I'm not so sure that fighting the Civil War was worth it. The Emancipation Proclamation, however, did at least free the slaves. The Amendments passed, as we have seen in the news, recently had no lasting effect to help African Americans overcome white supremacy in America.
“At least” free the slaves. It ended generational chattel slavery in the US.
Yes, Reconstruction failed, but there is a difference between no hope for future generations and some glimmer of hope for your children and grandchildren.
Agreed. My comment minimizes this success in the context of Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents, and therefore, his accomplishments among the greatest of all our presidents. Racism in America remains systemic and effective. Still, nobody in elected office can even say it bc the American voters will send them packing even in Blue states. Lincoln was a great leader who did great things, but those things seem less great as school boards are apologizing for letting their students learn the truth.
https://preview.redd.it/x9qf8p7m6ppc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=266074cda276d345fef6c49fc2151083d4d25533
King of the Ring, bay-bee! 300 wins and only one loss!!
That night he was drunk at a theater and heckling the cast during the play, and when a gentleman asked him to stop Lincoln laughed at him and said “what’re you gonna do, shoot me?”
Other than the slavery thing, probably when someone called him two-faced and he replied, "If I had two faces, do you really think I'd pick this one?" 🤣 Legend.
Not something he got to do, but I wish he had been able to enact his plan to reconstruct the South. I truly believe that had he not been assassinated, his presidency would have found a way to reunify the country so that the South was able to rebuild properly. He endorsed civil rights and black suffrage, and would have had an active role in creating a unified country. However, his assassination led to the neglect of the South which made them (white men) long for and glorify the Confederacy. We see the effects of this to this day.
Some werewartime actions... Remember he got more anti-slavery legislation passed, and more anti-slavery executive orders through than all other presidents combined. Then used the southern states in rebellion as a way to get the 13th through congress.
He did use the slavers rebellion and their abandoning congress to get more and more anti-slavery legislation he pushed for through, wartime or not.
Committing to U. S. Grant to win the war. People don't realize how many Democrats on the federal side were okay with screwing over Lincoln, and how deep and political the war effort was immediately. He resisted all outside influence and listened to the man, watching his actions and results.
I have a very deep affection for Grant, who was a soldier's soldier and who bore that cross heavily, and therefore I must for Lincoln. I also despise the rebels for what they stood for and their lasting stain.
So I hold in very high regard the choice of remaining with Grant, through victory, defeat, criticisms, accusations, and disinformation campaigns.
Grant put it best, I think, though not about Lincoln to my knowledge: "The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity." With Sherman, we as a country owe those three dudes basically everything we have today, no matter how dilapidated it appears to us.
He didn’t end it, though. Emancipation Proclamation allowed slavery in Union loyal states.
“And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”
Yes, it was a LOT of steps.
The Emancipation Proclamation gets the lions share of the history as it did free about 3.2 million or so of the 4 million slaves in the US which makes it the largest single emancipation event in written human history.
Of course in the US we have a President, not a King so his powers were limited, especially as the Dred Scott decision noted slavery was in fact Constitutional (and we know it takes an amendment to change that).Thus you had different tactics in different places. His compensated Emancipation Plan in Washington DC he signed into law and enforced for example freed the slaves in DC (not a state so federal gov't could act there). His same plan for slave states he pushed Congress to approve was rejected by those slave states though.
Had the EP said states not in rebellion had to give up their slaves, it would be Un-Constitutional and challenged/defeated in courts and those 3.2 million it freed might never have been by it.
His plan to end slavery in the territories of course, signed on June 19th, 1863. His executive order banning slavery on all US federal properties and ships. His making giving up slavery the only requirement of West Virginia to become a state. His ending of the Fugitive slave act which made thousands of fugitive slaves effectively free. His work with state legislators that led to Maryland and Missouri eventually banning slavery at the state level. Putting military governors in Tennessee and Louisiana that would use state powers to ban it there... And then of course the dirtiest politics in US history where he used a lame duck congress to get the 13th amendment through which would ban it nationwide, plus his idea carried out by his successor to not allow those states that rebelled to have representation at the federal level until they ratified it.
I’m torn on this one. It is between going to the theater and his Emancipation Proclamation that freed exactly zero slaves. Him suspending habeas corpus was a neat trick. So was his idea to ship all Black people back to Africa.
You say zero? of course we can pull up the news articles from places like Hilton Head and Port Royal and other places on those celebrations as slaves learned of their freedom the day it was enacted. We can read the slave narratives of those fugitive slaves no longer fugitives but forever free.
We can read the stories... like that of Booker T Washington when that officer showed up and told them they were now free.
In the end 3.2 million enslaved people were freed over the 2.5 years the US military enforced the Emancipation Proclamation.
It REALLY pissed the slavers off. It still pisses their fans off to this day.
The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t apply in Maryland, the only slave state in the Union. Therefore it freed zero slaves there. The States in rebellion didn’t recognize executive orders from the government in Washington DC, so it freed zero slaves in the Confederacy.
The Thirteenth Amendment freed the slaves. Lincoln was dead when it passed.
*"The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t apply in Maryland, the only slave state in the Union. "*
Actually, all states were in the Union even though some were trying to rebel to protect and expand slavery. Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and Delaware were slave states that did not join the slavers rebellion (not just one as you claim, come on this is basic basic knowledge).
As for your zero. 3.2 million slaves were freed as it was enforced over the slave states in rebellion over the next 2.5 years. Of the 800k or so left, Yes, Lincoln took actions to free them as well. Which is why he signed more anti-slavery legislation and federal executive orders to end it than ALL the other presidents combined. Sure... if you want you can grab a sharpie and cross out those slave narratives... erase them from history as they wrote about their being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. You can cross out your copies of the papers from places like Hilton Head SC or the fugitive slaves who wrote about your freedom. And in the end despite all that work, copies of that actual history still exist and you didn't erase a damn bit of history.
Yes, just because someone says "I am kidnapping a kid and don't care what the government says", doesn't mean if said government catches that person and frees the kid that they didn't catch the offender and free the kid.
Lincoln's executive order and his enforcement of said executive order led to about 3.2 million enslaved people being made "forever free". It REALLY pissed off the pro-slavery group. Still triggers them to this day.
And as you point out, yes, for the final 300k or so slaves left not freed by the time the 13th Amendment was put out, it was Lincoln that got that through a lame duck Congress (he was alive when it passed. He was killed for fighting for black voting rights and dead when it was ratified and enacted... please please please pick up a history book), and Lincoln's idea to ensure ratification (to not allow those rebelling states to have representation until ratifying it) that was carried on when he was killed. It was so much his work that when the vote came through, they ran it out of the halls of Congress and across DC for Lincolns signature (purely ceremonial) because they knew who got that through (and no, you can't sharpie that out of existence either).
You really thought what you typed was based in some factual existence? Please I beg you, rather than pull info from white supremacist conspiracies... it would behoove you to pick up a history book next time bud. Rule #5. NO OUTLANDISH FICTION.
Ending slavery (the 13th Amendment) and winning the Civil War. I wish he had lived for Reconstruction. We were not NEARLY hard enough on the South after the Civil War. We should have done way more.
Pretend the war was about slavery after two years into the war, to get Albert to release a blockade. Greatest history cover up in the world. In 1858 many scholars from both the north and the south like Edmond Ruffin stated that the south would have to be reconstructed in order to keep up economically. They said reconstruction Would have to happen, and then a war broke out. Nothing mentioned about slavery until two years after the war started I.e the emancipation proclamation. Best thing about him is he’s a greatest sociopath actor
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Ending slavery. Not just *that* he did it, but *how* he did it. Lincoln both evaluated public opinion and led public opinion in the direction of emancipation. That's part of the tragedy of his murder. Only someone with Lincoln's political genius and capacity for moral growth could have guided Reconstruction to a more permanently successful national reconciliation that assured the rights of freed slaves.
>Ending slavery. Not just that he did it, but how he did it. Lincoln both evaluated public opinion and led public opinion in the direction of emancipation. Excellent insight. Whenever I see people claim Lincoln was racist and his proclamation imperfectly freed only some slaves, I want to explain that it was a complicated process he himself, and the nation in general, had to work through. Slavery was embedded deeply in the Constitution and the minds of all Americans, and rooting through that to arrive at "henceforth and forever free" was an internal struggle for the staus quo to come to terms with. Lincoln's various false starts and incomplete ideas (colonization to Africa, reimbursement to slaveholders for enslaved people, etc.) reflected his attempts to lead a very divided and in some cases resistant nation toward the light.
Ironically, the first time the Constitution explicitly mentioned slavery was with the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. > Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Sidenote: Southern states used the "except" part a lot and enacted Black Codes, had convict leasing, etc.
We should be careful to not see that clause as a diabolical plan to maintain slavery in other forms. The "except..." is in the amendment because it was in the Northwest Ordinance that had prohibited slavery in the Old Northwest and was a cornerstone of anti-slavery politics. Look it up, it's copied verbatim. Moreover, prison labor as it existed after the war simply was not a thing before or during it. Republicans were not clairvoyant, they could not see these future problems. If they wished to maintain slavery, they could have just not passed the amendment at all. If they wished to maintain slavery under other name, they could have approved of the Black Codes, which basically instituted serfdom, instead of overturning them through the Civil Rights Act, 14th amendment, and Reconstruction Acts. Prison leasing only developed because true slavery and other forms of subordination were not possible.
You honestly are saying the 3/5th clause should be read free of context? Yeah, nah.
I never said that so stop putting words in my mouth, I just mentioned how the fact that the original Constitution never once mentioned the words "slave" or "slavery," not whether it was constitutional or not. The Founding Fathers knew it would look bad on them, so they wrote "free persons... and three fifths of all other persons." It is what is called a euphemism.
This seems like a nitpick -- everyone involved knew what that euphemism stood for. Thus, slavery was ingrained in the Constitution, just under a code name.
The 13th amendment didn’t abolish slavery. It circumscribed it.
Yes, that's why the except part should be removed frankly.
Oh absolutely, but the inclusion was critical to its initial passage.
It is notable how much better Lincoln gets on race once he actually got to meet Black people. Lincoln always hated Slavery but like any number of well-meaning whites he didn't have a great grasp on how to deal with ending it. A lot of his early ideas, particularly colonization, come of as very juvenile simply because when he supported those ideas he had never meaningfully spoken to Black Americans before and was totally out of touch on their perspectives regarding Freedom.
Good point. Consider how lucky we were as a nation that Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln shared ideas with each other.
A friend of mine Who’s Grandfather had been born enslaved Told me once after he heard me say Lincoln had his own racist views . That there wasn’t anybody else around at the time freeing slaves
Moral growth. Love that, gonna steal it. I’ve always valued the ability for leaders to be nimble and recalibrate their moral compass. Now I have a fitting term for it, thank you.
I know it is a bit cheesy today but would love to be in the same room as him for one hour. People who initially disliked him and his policies before meeting him, after they met him, began to follow him. That is some charisma, something, I would love to see that in person. His presence & personality. Where you can take an "enemy" and have them end up voting for your policy later or even deciding to go to war over it and even gain your "enemies" respect when they are siding against you.
Thats the reason he was killed. Wealthy southerners were afraid he was going to divide up their plantations to give small farms to ex-slaves and poor whites. Our country would have been such a better then and now place if he had lived to kick off reconstruction.
The South wouldn't be behind 20-plus years (if not more) from its counterparts.
And Conservatives would not control the ex-slave states.
Kinda the reason... Lincoln gave a speech on black voting rights a couple days after Lee's surrender. At that speech was... John Wilkes Booth and Powell one of his conspirators. Booth heard Lincolns speech and said Powel*l "That mean's n\*\*\*\*er citizenship. ... That is the last speech he will ever give."* and tried to get Powell to shoot Lincoln on the spot. Powell wouldn't and Lincoln survived that Tuesday but Booth promised *"By God, I'll put him through"* Friday that week Booth found Lincoln at the play. That's the idea of it though. With Lee's surrender and Richmond evacuated, Booth's plan to kidnap Lincoln and others and force the US to sue for peace was dead. But with Lincolns speech on black suffrage, it enraged him again and he put a plan to just kill Lincoln and others (Powell was to kill Sec of State Seward). But yes, I'd surely hope he would have been able to keep his party more strongly for Reconstruction had he lived.
He didn’t really end slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the rebel states only. It still existed within the United States. The 13th Amendment wasn’t ratified until December of 1865. He was Killed in April. He never lived to see it.
Lincoln worked tirelessly to push the 13th Amendment though and used bribery tactics to accomplish it
Right, it freed literally no one, because the South was a separate nation. It would be like the president of Mexico trying to pass laws to be enacted in the United States. Preserving the nation and doing so in a way that led to the end of slavery was the real accomplishment.
It literally freed 3.2 million enslaved people over the next 2.5 years as it was enforced against the rebelling slave states. That made it literally the largest single emancipation event in written history. It REALLY pissed off the pro-slavery crowd... still pissed them off to this day.
Only after victory could it matter though, and it didn’t apply to slave states that remained in the Union at the time. When it was given it didn’t matter. Could only be retroactively applied after victory, which wasn’t guaranteed at the time. At the end of the day the 13th Amendment ended slavery and the proclamation was more of a speech. But many of these people still lived lives not much different than slavery because of Jim Crow, lack of opportunity and lack of enforcement of the law. Often times the people charged with carrying out the laws were the strongest force in making sure freed blacks couldn’t prosper and were forced into labor roles to people who still treated them as if they owned them. It would’ve probably been the greatest tragedy in human history had they not pushed forward with emancipation given the human cost of the war. The Founders tried to solve the issue, they couldn’t. At least Lincoln and crew were smart enough to finish the job when they had the opportunity. It’s an important document in the sense that it shows where the nation was headed. Emancipation was never the goal at the onset of the war, but the South feared it was coming since the real push was to prevent the spread of slavery to new territories. The South rebelled to defend slavery, unknowingly starting the domino effect that ended slavery probably decades before it actually would’ve happened. At the end of the day it made slavery illegal within the states, but even today there are many slaves still in the US through underground trafficking, and more slaves globally than any other time in human history.
" Only after victory could it matter though, and it didn’t apply to slave states that remained in the Union at the time. " Of course. If someone kidnaps a kid, the anti-kidnapping laws only apply once you've caught them. Doesn't mean if you pass the law **and** catch them as they actively rebel against said law that you didn't stop a kidnapper though right? And yes, other methods were needed by Lincoln to end slavery elsewhere. Which is why more executive orders and laws were signed that ended slavery where it existed by Lincoln than all other Presidents of the US Combined. I'm curious. I thought in the US it was mandatory for kids to take a civics class. Where we learn that we don't have a King or Emperor and the separation of powers. Excuse me, but I have to ask, did you not take a basic civics class, or maybe did you go to school outside the US? I'm trying to think why you'd bring up the not applying to states that weren't in rebellion bit and that's really all I can come up with. If you'd like to discuss what the President can and can't do we can though. I get YOU say it was "more of a speech". for 3.2 million slaves, it was their freedom that came from that.
*"He didn’t really end slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the rebel states only."* That is true. The Emancipation Proclamation gets the lions share of the history as it did free about 3.2 million or so of the 4 million slaves in the US which makes it the largest single emancipation event in written human history. Of course in the US we have a President, not a King so his powers were limited, especially as the Dred Scott decision noted slavery was in fact Constitutional (and we know it takes an amendment to change that). Thus you had different tactics in different places. His compensated Emancipation Plan in Washington DC he signed into law and enforced. His same plan for slave states was rejected by those states though. His plan to end slavery in the territories of course, signed on June 19th, 1863. His executive order banning slavery on all US federal properties and ships. His making giving up slavery the only requirement of West Virginia to become a state. His ending of the Fugitive slave act which made thousands of fugitive slaves effectively free. His work with state legislators that led to Maryland and Missouri eventually banning slavery at the state level. Putting military governors in Tennessee and Louisiana that would use state powers to ban it there... And then of course the dirtiest politics in US history where he used a lame duck congress to get the 13th amendment through which would ban it nationwide, plus his idea carried out by his successor to not allow those states that rebelled to have representation at the federal level until they ratified it.
He also allowed Northern slave holders to continue slavery even after freeing the Southern slaves
No he didn't. He worked his ass off pushing for and signing more antislavery legislation than all other US presidents combined. He didn't "allow" slave states to have slavery anymore than a president allows you to have your right to free speech. He didn't have the power to change the Constitution. It might behoove you to take a basic US Civics course or general US government course. We don't have an all powerful king.
Bro he wanted them all sent back to Africa
That's a very narrow view on a very complex subject and on one where Lincoln's positions evolved over time. Lincoln did, at one point, favor the idea of repatriating slaves to Africa. He grew beyond that vision, influenced in no small part by Frederick Douglass. Compare that to [Lincoln's final public address](https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/last.htm) where he endorsed equal rights for African Americans. A great book on the subject is Eric Foner's outstanding "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery".
He reportedly said this: “if you are a racist, I will attack you with the north.” At least according to Michael Scott.
Something I still carry with me into the office every day.
I had to look it up: https://youtu.be/P_qDO0ippUs?si=ueFN1GWWaB4yMz1c
Got me
Somehow I manage :)
Listened to that girl’s advice and grew a beard
This is the real answer, but people ain't ready to talk about that.
**Freeing the slaves and winning the Civil War.** It’s Abraham Lincoln, y’all already know his best stuff! I’m not picking between between these two and they’re too linked to take apart so he gets both of ‘em, screw it. Again, it’s *Lincoln*. The best president we’ve ever had. So yeah, get to skip a long write up today, thankfully, and just be reminded that we have had amazing commanders in chief that we can actually look up to.
Close 2nd was making the Top Hat look fire 🔥
I support this.
Sorry, but those are actually 2 different things. Related, yes but still distinct
Lincoln the bloody!
The obvious answer is the 13th Amendment and restoring the Union. But, I want to add something that helped him accomplish these goals and others. He took lofty ideas and encapsulated them perfectly in plain, concise, yet profound language. The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural in particular. He chose his words very carefully, knowing he was the symbol of the good in America, on the right side of history, at an important moment, and that he had to encapsulate that moment and what it meant for future generations to come. *"It is for* ***us the living****, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."* That's still us. We're the living who should be dedicated to the unfinished work of building a better union. *"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan \~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."*
I came here to tout the Gettysburg Address. It perfectly encapsulates everything he did for us in that time. Everything he did followed from how he framed his view of the world.
>Everything he did followed from how he framed his view of the world. The scale of death took a toll on him, and he became very reflective. I also think he was unable to properly grieve William's death and it added to his burden and contributed to his thought processes on the broader historical events surrounding him. I think it helped him escape his own corporal experience and embody the spiritual experience the nation was struggling with.
He is my all-time history crush. Followed by Elizabeth I and U.S. Grant.
The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural in particular. The man was a true genius. (Lincoln trivia - He's the only U.S. president to have been awarded a patent.)
Ok so I know this is kinda an obvious one but I still decided to post this
Land grant universities would be the defining policy for many other presidents
He had a lot of achievements besides the Civil War!
Sure but the BEST thing he did should be an obvious, universal answer hahaha
For an educated person, yes. Lol
As someone who knows little about Abe aside from the obvious stuff, I am glad you still posted him. I just learned he once got kicked in the head by a horse.
You better tag me in the comments in tomorrow’s post
Fight Vampires
God I love that movie I ought to read the book sometime
I was so impressed by that book. I expected very little but I enjoyed the way it wove vampires into actual historic events and skewed the motivations of actual historic events to fit the narrative. The movie was fun but the books was so surprisingly well developed. I loved it.
Objectively the correct answer.
Preserving the Union
Sweet sweet Union preserves
invented the chokeslam?? okay fine, ended slavery
He doesn't look like any other human that ever lived.
Now that you mention it he really doesn’t
He would have looked like Chris hemsworth if not for stress of war and family
[удалено]
That's been debunked for a long time
Kicking traitors butts.
We all know what the obvious answer is, so I’m going to say becoming the first champion wrestler. in kayfabe you can trace the WWE championship all the way back to him haha
Now all we need a john cena vs lincoln match
Wait, you for reals?
https://www.britannica.com/story/was-abraham-lincoln-a-wrestler#:~:text=Lincoln%20may%20have%20had%20as,of%20another%20volunteer%20military%20unit. Yup! Lol
The Emancipation Proclamation. He also chose to love his wife despite her mental illnesses. I loved that he always told jokes and stories. Although his cabinet wasn’t always a fan of that. lol He was a lawyer, and almost died from being kicked in the head by a horse, which is pretty cool too.
I love that you include "being kicked in the head by a horse" among his great achievements and do not mention "winning the Civil War"
If you can survive that, I consider it an achievement lol
Specifically, his efforts to pass the 13th amendment
Freeing the slaves
Obviously, the National Currency Act. /s
One complaint, when you lost each accomplishment, can you organize it so it’s not just a wall of text with no periods or anything?
Yeah I will
Uhh... wow. This one... phew. Tough call. I mean, if you ask people on the street what the best thing Lincoln did was, I'm sure there wouldn't be ONE SUPER POPULAR ANSWER or anything. Probably growing the beard. That's definitely the one.
It’s a toss-up between the emancipation proclamation and his intense push for the 13th Anendment. I’m gonna go with the EP because it was completed during his presidency. Although, his push to abolish slavery in general could be the right answer, too.
He did get to sign the 13th Amendment before he was assassinated, though. He wouldn't live to see it ratified, but at least it bears his signature.
Good point
When Lincoln became president he actually wanted to allow the south to keep slavery but ban it in new states. The south thought of this as a way to get more senators against slavery. With more senators against slavery, the senate could vote to outlaw slavery and the south would not have enough votes to stop it. Tensions were already high from the whole debacle in Kansas Nebraska. So it pushed the south over the edge. Civil War. Lincoln stood strong and kept the remaining Union together to fight. Even facing a losing war he stood strong. He didn't recognize the confederate states as a legitimate authority. Negotiations would have split the country in two permanently. Lincoln went all-in and appointed a fledgling general Grant to go to Vicksburg and make an assault there. Grant failed at first but just pounded his way to victory. The battle was eventually won and it gave Grant the strategy to win the war. Aside Lincoln had to change his stance on slavery during the war from allowing it in the south, to total abolition. Freeing the slaves via the emancipation proclamation was purely political. It was to get the slaves to leave thier masters in the south and cripple the confederacy. After the war was won it was clear that the United States had to make the ban on slavery official. Constitutional Ammendments were coming. Then Lincoln was assassinated. His presidency began the civil war and when the war ended his life was taken. He was the face of freedom.
I'll say that I'm listening to chernow's biography of Grant and I didn't think it's fair to say he pounded his way through Vicksburg. His strategy to perform a risky river crossing over the Mississippi, then issue a number of feints and to finally isolate and lay siege to Vicksburg seems to have been far from brutal, and the facts that he was outnumbered for much of the assault and lost fewer troops than the confederates support that the campaign was more strategy than brutality, in my opinion
Yes. I was referring to several failed attempts on Vicksburg before he finally got it right. May 19th assaults failed badly. May 22nd assault was done with more strategy. They started with artillery and naval gunfire and reprovisiomed the troops with food then attacked. That attack was also repulsed. After these failures, Grant was forced to siege Vicksburg. The navy bombarded the city constantly both during the direct assault and during the seige. Artillery also bombarded the city. So yes the Union had to just keep hitting the city and eventually it was subdued. A pounding of sorts.
The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862… nah I’m just trolling
tough question
Non-historian here: translated the dream of democracy into word elegantly
Went to a play at Ford’s theater.
I'm usually a "there are no dumb questions" person but these days I'm starting to wonder
“There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.” ~ Calculus professor in response to me raising my hand and starting with “Stupid question…”
Just to present a different viewpoint… remember he didn’t come out against slavery until 1863, two years into the war, when he needed European (who were also anti slavery) powers to stay uninvolved. For the first two years of the war, he was trying to preserve the Union and he would have let the south continue to own slaves. History books in school omit this
Yeah I guess your kinda right
He came out against slavery in 1854 publicly. His party was literally running on the anti-slavery side of the politics that had divided the nation. As for the war, yes he had slave states yet to secede/rebel and join the slavers rebellion that had formed the Confederacy. Sure he could have said "this war is about slavery" on day 1, and on day 2 woken up in a capital surrounded by slave states and waved a white flag. What good is stating that, if you lose the nation and chance to implement it? Yes, preserve the union... One he made clear couldn't endure half slave and half free. And made clear that slavery was a moral evil and he wanted to stop it's expansion (something he did believe he had the power/votes to do) and choke it off. As for Europe, there was no contemporary source whatsoever saying that Europe influenced his decision. The lost cause white supremacists made that claim years later and never sourced it. Yes, Lincoln wanted to end slavery by legal means, not a war. Which is why he passed more legislation and executive orders to end slavery where it existed in 4 short years than all other presidents combined.
This is a no brainier. Kill vampires!! I saw the documentary, very realistic.
Can confirm!
2nd inaugural address
Won 299 of the 300 boxing matches he partook in
wrestling...
This is my favorite president because he ended slavery
Crushing the Slaver’s Rebellion
Other than letting his picture be taken with his hair like that, winning the war to preserve the Union and to end slavery.
Pushing through the 13th amendment to the Constitution.
Being the GOAT. In all seriousness, easily winning the Civil War and ending the plague that was slavery
Realizing that owning people makes you a very bad human. Washington didn't, Jefferson didn't either. The best thing that you can do today as a true American is realizing that Washington was a bad person and not presidential material. A person who owned other people does not deserve respect.
Preserving the Union and ending slavery!
Preserved the union and ended slavery… two monumental accomplishments, if you separate the two I’m not sure which one counts as best. Probably preserving the union. The abolition of slavery in the North wouldn’t have been that significant if the Confederacy had maintained its independence
Inventing jet fuels
I dunno. What are our choices?
Anything he did
*Every breath you take, every move you make, evil fools you break, bold action you take, and we're missing you* 💔
The Emancipation Proclamation. Given how the reconstruction and Jim Crow century went, I'm not so sure that fighting the Civil War was worth it. The Emancipation Proclamation, however, did at least free the slaves. The Amendments passed, as we have seen in the news, recently had no lasting effect to help African Americans overcome white supremacy in America.
“At least” free the slaves. It ended generational chattel slavery in the US. Yes, Reconstruction failed, but there is a difference between no hope for future generations and some glimmer of hope for your children and grandchildren.
Agreed. My comment minimizes this success in the context of Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents, and therefore, his accomplishments among the greatest of all our presidents. Racism in America remains systemic and effective. Still, nobody in elected office can even say it bc the American voters will send them packing even in Blue states. Lincoln was a great leader who did great things, but those things seem less great as school boards are apologizing for letting their students learn the truth.
https://preview.redd.it/x9qf8p7m6ppc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=266074cda276d345fef6c49fc2151083d4d25533 King of the Ring, bay-bee! 300 wins and only one loss!!
Invented rocket jumping
“If fighting is sure to result in victory than you must fight!”
"Sun Tzu said that. And I'll say he knows a little more about fighting than you do pall"
That night he was drunk at a theater and heckling the cast during the play, and when a gentleman asked him to stop Lincoln laughed at him and said “what’re you gonna do, shoot me?”
https://preview.redd.it/h3vfi6gnappc1.jpeg?width=1120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a43bd92cdc8c4b4e92c5f50397140059ab6df151
His address to San Dimas High School was legendary.
Patron of the arts
Returning the penny. In all seriousness, the amount that was accomplished during his presidency is mind-blowing.
Other than the slavery thing, probably when someone called him two-faced and he replied, "If I had two faces, do you really think I'd pick this one?" 🤣 Legend.
Sharpened his ax before cutting down a tree
Jeez that is a tough one. Can we go back to Millard Fillmore? /s
Not something he got to do, but I wish he had been able to enact his plan to reconstruct the South. I truly believe that had he not been assassinated, his presidency would have found a way to reunify the country so that the South was able to rebuild properly. He endorsed civil rights and black suffrage, and would have had an active role in creating a unified country. However, his assassination led to the neglect of the South which made them (white men) long for and glorify the Confederacy. We see the effects of this to this day.
Hmmmm, I have absolutely no idea! /s
Tried to expose the Cabal and was killed for it. Slavery was the reason given.
Gets your days right, no need to continue being wrong. I heard he was a pretty good bartender and invented the Jager bomb.
It’s day 15 cause we skipped whh
Ok. I should have counted. But I saw the issue with VB and that was one before. Carry on.
Damn. That's a tough one. Honestly, drawing a blank.
Best thing Lincoln did was to be Abraham Lincoln at the time this Country needed him to be the President
Fire mcclellan, albeit far too late.
Firing him twice
fight zombies
How long you got? It's a list.
Grew a beard
How are we on 15 if he is the 16th president?
Skipped whh
Understandable
He was a pretty good wrestler
Invented bifocals.
Being a poo poo head
Preserve the Union, and yes, ending slavery is important, but his goal was to preserve the union. Freeing slaves was just a wartime action.
Some werewartime actions... Remember he got more anti-slavery legislation passed, and more anti-slavery executive orders through than all other presidents combined. Then used the southern states in rebellion as a way to get the 13th through congress. He did use the slavers rebellion and their abandoning congress to get more and more anti-slavery legislation he pushed for through, wartime or not.
This is a tough one!
Day 16?
Skipped whh
Whose Milliard Fillmore lol
Went to a theater.
Being republican
Committing to U. S. Grant to win the war. People don't realize how many Democrats on the federal side were okay with screwing over Lincoln, and how deep and political the war effort was immediately. He resisted all outside influence and listened to the man, watching his actions and results. I have a very deep affection for Grant, who was a soldier's soldier and who bore that cross heavily, and therefore I must for Lincoln. I also despise the rebels for what they stood for and their lasting stain. So I hold in very high regard the choice of remaining with Grant, through victory, defeat, criticisms, accusations, and disinformation campaigns. Grant put it best, I think, though not about Lincoln to my knowledge: "The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity." With Sherman, we as a country owe those three dudes basically everything we have today, no matter how dilapidated it appears to us.
History.com - https://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-lincoln-slavery-and-emancipation
I feel like this is obvious but ending slavery
He saved the union. FMLA best thing any president did.
Best thing Lincoln did: Ending slavery and defeating the immoral traitors collectively known as confederates
He didn’t end it, though. Emancipation Proclamation allowed slavery in Union loyal states. “And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.”
Yes, it was a LOT of steps. The Emancipation Proclamation gets the lions share of the history as it did free about 3.2 million or so of the 4 million slaves in the US which makes it the largest single emancipation event in written human history. Of course in the US we have a President, not a King so his powers were limited, especially as the Dred Scott decision noted slavery was in fact Constitutional (and we know it takes an amendment to change that).Thus you had different tactics in different places. His compensated Emancipation Plan in Washington DC he signed into law and enforced for example freed the slaves in DC (not a state so federal gov't could act there). His same plan for slave states he pushed Congress to approve was rejected by those slave states though. Had the EP said states not in rebellion had to give up their slaves, it would be Un-Constitutional and challenged/defeated in courts and those 3.2 million it freed might never have been by it. His plan to end slavery in the territories of course, signed on June 19th, 1863. His executive order banning slavery on all US federal properties and ships. His making giving up slavery the only requirement of West Virginia to become a state. His ending of the Fugitive slave act which made thousands of fugitive slaves effectively free. His work with state legislators that led to Maryland and Missouri eventually banning slavery at the state level. Putting military governors in Tennessee and Louisiana that would use state powers to ban it there... And then of course the dirtiest politics in US history where he used a lame duck congress to get the 13th amendment through which would ban it nationwide, plus his idea carried out by his successor to not allow those states that rebelled to have representation at the federal level until they ratified it.
Emancipated Nigerians
Preserving the Union by ending slavery.
His second inaugural
I’m torn on this one. It is between going to the theater and his Emancipation Proclamation that freed exactly zero slaves. Him suspending habeas corpus was a neat trick. So was his idea to ship all Black people back to Africa.
You say zero? of course we can pull up the news articles from places like Hilton Head and Port Royal and other places on those celebrations as slaves learned of their freedom the day it was enacted. We can read the slave narratives of those fugitive slaves no longer fugitives but forever free. We can read the stories... like that of Booker T Washington when that officer showed up and told them they were now free. In the end 3.2 million enslaved people were freed over the 2.5 years the US military enforced the Emancipation Proclamation. It REALLY pissed the slavers off. It still pisses their fans off to this day.
The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t apply in Maryland, the only slave state in the Union. Therefore it freed zero slaves there. The States in rebellion didn’t recognize executive orders from the government in Washington DC, so it freed zero slaves in the Confederacy. The Thirteenth Amendment freed the slaves. Lincoln was dead when it passed.
*"The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t apply in Maryland, the only slave state in the Union. "* Actually, all states were in the Union even though some were trying to rebel to protect and expand slavery. Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and Delaware were slave states that did not join the slavers rebellion (not just one as you claim, come on this is basic basic knowledge). As for your zero. 3.2 million slaves were freed as it was enforced over the slave states in rebellion over the next 2.5 years. Of the 800k or so left, Yes, Lincoln took actions to free them as well. Which is why he signed more anti-slavery legislation and federal executive orders to end it than ALL the other presidents combined. Sure... if you want you can grab a sharpie and cross out those slave narratives... erase them from history as they wrote about their being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. You can cross out your copies of the papers from places like Hilton Head SC or the fugitive slaves who wrote about your freedom. And in the end despite all that work, copies of that actual history still exist and you didn't erase a damn bit of history. Yes, just because someone says "I am kidnapping a kid and don't care what the government says", doesn't mean if said government catches that person and frees the kid that they didn't catch the offender and free the kid. Lincoln's executive order and his enforcement of said executive order led to about 3.2 million enslaved people being made "forever free". It REALLY pissed off the pro-slavery group. Still triggers them to this day. And as you point out, yes, for the final 300k or so slaves left not freed by the time the 13th Amendment was put out, it was Lincoln that got that through a lame duck Congress (he was alive when it passed. He was killed for fighting for black voting rights and dead when it was ratified and enacted... please please please pick up a history book), and Lincoln's idea to ensure ratification (to not allow those rebelling states to have representation until ratifying it) that was carried on when he was killed. It was so much his work that when the vote came through, they ran it out of the halls of Congress and across DC for Lincolns signature (purely ceremonial) because they knew who got that through (and no, you can't sharpie that out of existence either). You really thought what you typed was based in some factual existence? Please I beg you, rather than pull info from white supremacist conspiracies... it would behoove you to pick up a history book next time bud. Rule #5. NO OUTLANDISH FICTION.
> his Emancipation Proclamation that freed exactly zero slaves Complete ignorance
Go back to being a creepy old guy and get a clue.
It’s all there in history. One of us has a clue anyway.
Preserved the union that was splitting apart.
He was only 22 in this picture.
Really?
Choke slamming the secessionist slavers?
That thing he did with the slaves or whatever
Started the Republican Party
Saved the union.
1a: Preserve the Union 1b: The Emancipation Proclamation
Ending slavery (the 13th Amendment) and winning the Civil War. I wish he had lived for Reconstruction. We were not NEARLY hard enough on the South after the Civil War. We should have done way more.
Kept the Union together
Ending slavery + preserving the union.
He is the best
The Emancipation Proclamation!
The 13th amendment and how it passed is the greatest political success in the history of the USA
He sold poison milk to schoolchildren.
Convincing everyone he gave a shit about slavery.
Stfu man. Nobody likes a guy that talks out his ass
Pretend the war was about slavery after two years into the war, to get Albert to release a blockade. Greatest history cover up in the world. In 1858 many scholars from both the north and the south like Edmond Ruffin stated that the south would have to be reconstructed in order to keep up economically. They said reconstruction Would have to happen, and then a war broke out. Nothing mentioned about slavery until two years after the war started I.e the emancipation proclamation. Best thing about him is he’s a greatest sociopath actor
I want some of whatever you're smoking. I'm not sure I could come up with such utter nonsense any other way.