The Chicago Ministers In early September, the pressure built. New Yorkers had been trekking to Washington all summer. In desperation, they even recruited New York Evening Post William Cullen Bryant. A delegation headed by the son of Alexander Hamilton came away frustrated… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Preparation for Draft Proclamation Between March and July of 1862, President Lincoln advocated compensated emancipation of slaves living in Border States. He also endorsed foreign colonization of freed slaves. But by July 1862, the Union war efforts in Virginia were going badly… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Emancipation Proclamation The Civil War was a war of contradictions. The South seceded to perpetuate slavery and instead ended up destroying it. North vowed not to interfere with slavery and won sufficient support to kill it. Unlike many abolitionists, President Lincoln… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Confiscation Acts The Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 1, 1861 jolted Congress into a realization that the Civil War might not be the swift, neat confrontation they hoped for – and that dis-unionists might need to be… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

District of Columbia Until the Civil War, the nation’s capital was a center of the slave trade. Lincoln biographer Paul Findley wrote that when Mr. Lincoln served in Congress, “The District was one of the busiest transfer points for slaves. They were often…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Border States The loyalty of the Border States were a pressing concern for both the Confederate and Union governments in 1861, noted David Herbert Donald: “If Maryland had seceded, Washington would have been surrounded by enemy territory, cut off from the…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Compensated Emancipation Historian Olivier Frayssé noted Mr. Lincoln’s support for compensated emancipation dated to the 1840s. “Lincoln came down in favor if indemnifying the owner of a slave stolen by the English in 1814 and against the abolition of…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Colonization Support for foreign colonization of freed slaves had a long history in the United States; with advocates among both whites and blacks, noted historian Patrick Rael. “Spurred by the patronage of the American Colonization Society, which was…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Congressional Action and Inaction From the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln came under considerable pressure from Radical Republicans to take action to free slaves in areas in rebellion against the Federal government. Mr. Lincoln doubted the… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

David Hunter and the Department of the South General David Hunter had managed to insinuate himself into a personal relationship with President Lincoln; even accompanying him on the pre-inaugural train ride from Springfield to… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >