Most books cover events including war losses and victories leading up to the Proclamation. Others cover the South’s hostility to the freed slaves, the lynchings, the jailings, the denial of voting rights, the lack of adequate education, etc., etc. But most references to the Emancipation Proclamation and history of the era fail to mention the lengthy litigation likewise displaying hostility to the slave-freeing process. This book in process will fill that gap.
“Proclaim liberty through all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof.” Leviticus 25:10.
As a war measure during the 1861-1865 War, President Abraham Lincoln was Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army. In that capacity, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation as a military order, in two stages. In stage one, 1 Sep 1862, Lincoln gave advance notice that if the rebellion did not stop by the new year, he would act to free slaves in enemy territory. As the rebellion did not end, stage two was on 1 Jan 1863, when he issued the finalized military order. The purpose was to free slaves in enemy territory, as a war measure to weaken the enemy, and thereby strengthen the Union position.
After the 1939-1945 World War, denazification occurred, and after the 2003 War with Iraq, debaathification occurred, to remove from positions of power those individuals who opposed the new government’s principles and values. In the South, that did not happen. The old leaders either retained or rapidly regained power, retaining their old anti-freedom beliefs. This was true in, for example, Southern courts. . . . With the courts still essentially pro-slavery or Confederate in attitude, slavers were emboldened to sue or resist claims under the Emancipation Proclamation. People who claimed ownership rights in slaves sued, and others also affected. Slaves who wished to be included under its terms also sought relief pursuant to it.
The Borderline Anti-Memory PastBook asks questions a diary does not ask and raises the questions to dialectics and answers them in a way a memory work does not answer questions.
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