Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation Part Five: The Emancipation Decision

On July 8, 1862, Abraham Lincoln journeyed to Harrison's Landing, Virginia, to confer with US General George McCellan on the conduct of the war against the southern insurrection. During the meeting, McCellan delivered Lincoln a memorandum that instructed him to abandon any effort to liberate the four million slaves in America. Lincoln responded by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, and by sacking McCellan. In part five of our analysis of the decision to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation, we review this meeting, and the other factors that went into delivering this most momentous decision in American history.

Part 5: The Emancipation Decision

Audio Clips:

• Christie S. Coleman, "The Civil War and The End of Slavery," R.H. Smith Center for the Constitution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4nh5ZeKWJY

Musical Clips:

• "Garry Owen" Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM48Qzn1eGQ
• "Long John," Prisoners of Darrington State Prison Farm, Texas (1933/34?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G5KtQynWvc
• "Battle Hymn of the Republic," Reinald Werrenrath (Viktor, 1917):
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUPPr_AilTM
• "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," Henry Burr (1911): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KQHU3wJq4o

Bibliography:

• David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (Simon & Schuster, 1996)
• Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
• Todd Brewster, Lincoln's Gamble: How the Emancipation Proclamation Changed the Course of the Civil War (Scribner, 2014)
• Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (Norton, 2010)
• Richard Blackett, Divided Hearts. Britain and the American Civil War (Louisiana State University Press, 2001)