“The Constitution Again Disregarded,” Memphis Daily Appeal, September 29, 1862.
Memphis Daily Appeal article about President Lincoln’s preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, announcing that the slaves in territories under rebellion against the U.S. will be free January 1, 1863.
Transcript Excerpt
We publish this evening the long-expected proclamation of Abraham Lincoln…declaring 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 any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be thenceforward and forever free,” and that he will “on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States.”
…Of course the radicals of the North entertain the idea that the line of policy Lincoln has adopted, will at once paralyze the Confederates and terminate the war speedily, with the consummation of their long cherished hope, the abolition of American slavery. Passing over the easily questioned wisdom and practicability of changing, by a single and sudden act, the entire social status and individual necessities of four millions of ignorant and very helpless creatures, we can assure these abolition robbers that the only effect of the attempt to enforce the scheme will be to increase the enmity of all the slave States, and set as a compulsion in all the border states, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri especially, to fight tooth and nail against the emancipation army. It cannot bring any material accession of strength to them, or work any effectual mischief or paralysis to us, except in localities which may be temporarily occupied by our foes; and even there it can be no worse than we have already experienced. They have harmed us all they possibly could, already. Wherever they have gone all the slaves who would leave their masters have been protected in doing so…
Questions
What is this article about?
What is the point of view of the author about Lincoln’s planned proclamation?
What information does this article provide about African Americans who are enslaved?
Citations
Memphis Daily Appeal, September 29, 1862. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045160/1862-09-29/ed-1/seq-2/