"Gentlemen,"said he,according to the diary of Secretary Chase,"I have,as you are aware,thought a great deal about the relation of this war to slavery;and you all remember that several weeks ago I read you an order I had prepared on this subject,which,on account of objections made by some of you,was not issued.Ever since,my mind has been much occupied with this subject,and I have thought all along that the time for acting on it might probably come.I think the time has come now.I wish it was a better time.I wish that we were in a better condition.The action of the army against the Rebels has not been quite what I should have best liked.But they have been driven out of Maryland;and Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion.When the Rebel army was at Frederick,Idetermined,as soon as it should be driven out of Maryland,to issue a proclamation of emancipation,such as I thought most likely to be useful.I said nothing to any one,but I made the promise to myself,and [hesitating a little]to my Maker.The Rebel army is now driven out and I am going to fulfill that promise.I have got you together to hear what I have written down.I do not wish your advice about the main matter,for that I have determined for myself.This,I say without intending anything but respect for any one of you.But Ialready know the views of each on this question.They have been heretofore expressed,and I have considered them as thoroughly and as carefully as I can.What I have written is that which my reflections have determined me to say....
I must do the best I can,and bear the responsibility of taking the course which I feel I ought to take."[15]The next day the Proclamation was published.
This famous document [16]is as remarkable for the parts of it that are now forgotten as for the rest.The remembered portion is a warning that on the first of January,one hundred days subsequent to the date of the Proclamation--"all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State,the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States,shall be then,thenceforward,and forever free."The forgotten portions include four other declarations of executive policy.Lincoln promised that "the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who have remained loyal thereto shall be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States,including the loss of slaves."He announced that he would again urge upon Congress "the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid"to all the loyal Slave States that would "voluntarily adopt immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their limits."He would continue to advise the colonization of free Africans abroad.
There is still to be mentioned a detail of the Proclamation which,except for its historical setting in the general perspective of Lincoln's political strategy,would appear inexplicable.One might expect in the opening statement,where the author of the Proclamation boldly assumes dictatorial power,an immediate linking of that assumption with the matter in hand.But this does not happen.The Proclamation begins with the following paragraph:
"I,Abraham Lincoln,President of the United States of America,and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof,do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter,as heretofore,the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof in which States that relation is or may be suspended or disturbed."
