Proclamation · 1863
Issued as “a fit and necessary war measure” one hundred days after Lincoln’s preliminary proclamation of September 22, 1862, the proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves in the states and parts of states then in rebellion “are, and henceforward shall be free.” It did not apply to the loyal border slave states or to several Union-occupied areas of the South, and it announced that freed men would be received into the armed service of the United States.
From the library
With Union victory in sight, Lincoln used a brief address of about 700 words to reflect on the meaning of the war. Observing that both sides “read the same Bible and pray to the same God,” he suggested that the war might be divine judgment on the offense of American slavery, borne by North and South alike, and closed by calling for a peace made “with malice toward none, with charity for all.”
The amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime, and empowered Congress to enforce the ban by appropriate legislation. The Senate approved it in April 1864, and the House, after an intense campaign by President Lincoln, followed on January 31, 1865; ratification was completed on December 6, 1865.
In the midst of civil war, Lincoln invited Americans at home, at sea and abroad to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise, citing a year of “fruitful fields and healthful skies,” preserved peace with foreign nations and continued national growth. He asked citizens to commend to God’s care all who had been widowed, orphaned or left mourning by the war, and to pray for the healing of the nation.