» Slavery & Emancipation

 Slavery and Emancipation

The Civil War was a war of national survival. In the absence of success on the part of Mr. Lincoln we would have had a slave-based republic in the South and we would have had a free democracy in the North—constantly at each others’ throats. There never would have been peace on the North American continent.

—Lewis Lehrman

Exhibitions

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Timeline

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Essays

Frederick Douglass, ca. 1880s. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln, 1880, from “The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles,” Osborn H. Oldroyd. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Emancipation Proclamation published by Rufus Blanchard, Chicago, ca. 1863–1864. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Allies for Emancipation? Black Abolitionists and Abraham Lincoln, by Manisha Sinha
Douglass and Lincoln: A Convergence, by James Oakes
The Emancipation Proclamation: Bill of Lading or Ticket to Freedom? by Allen C. Guelzo
American Anti-Slavery Society (1836) Slave Market of America. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
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“Half slave, half free”: Lincoln and the “House Divided,” by Gabor S. Borit
Lincoln and Abolitionism, by Douglas L. Wilson
Natural Rights, Citizenship Rights, State Rights, and Black Rights: Another Look at Lincoln and Race, by James Oakes

Documents

Abraham Lincoln, notes for the “House Divided” speech, ca. December 1857 (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Abraham Lincoln, speech fragment concerning the abolition of slavery, ca. July 1858. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
Abraham Lincoln, speech fragment on slavery and the American government, ca. 1857–1858. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
The “House Divided” Speech, ca. 1857–1858
Lincoln on abolition in England and the United States, 1858
Lincoln speech on slavery and the American Dream, 1858
American Anti-Slavery Society (1836) Slave Market of America. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)
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Lincoln on the execution of a slave trader, 1862
The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863

Video

Audio



Lesson Plans

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Abraham Lincoln on Slavery and Race
The Emancipation Proclamation through Different Eyes