On December 29, President Lincoln passed out copies of his Emancipation Proclamation for their final review. Two days later, he signed the bill into law creating the new loyal Union state of West Virginia.
On January 1, the president released his Emancipation Proclamation. The executive order by the president as part of his constitutional authority called for all slave in the state of rebellion to be forevermore free. The ten states that the order affected included Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and North Carolina.
It also ordered the army to treat all slaves as free men. Prior to that date, the army treated the fugitive slaves as Contrabands.
His preliminary proclamation issued on September 22, 1863 had ordered immediate emancipation of slaves in all states that did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863.
No comments:
Post a Comment