![[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM]. Secretarial manuscript of Lincoln's draft Emancipation Proclamation, used in Lincoln's meeting with the Cabinet on 30 December 1862. [Washington, D.C., on or just before 30 December 1862]. 3 pages, legal folio, 321 x 200mm., penned in ink on rectos only of three sheets of lined paper, EACH PAGE IN THE HAND OF A DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT OF STATE SECRETARY, the three leaves neatly joined at top left corner with a strip of yellow-gold silk ribbon, originally folded twice horizontally, page three with a clean separation along portion of fold and a nick at edge (not affecting text), minor separations at a few other folds. With original envelope, docketed at top in an unidentified hand "Presidents Proclamation."](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/NYR/1999_NYR_09262_0122_000(122638).jpg?w=1)
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[LINCOLN, ABRAHAM]. Secretarial manuscript of Lincoln's draft Emancipation Proclamation, used in Lincoln's meeting with the Cabinet on 30 December 1862. [Washington, D.C., on or just before 30 December 1862]. 3 pages, legal folio, 321 x 200mm., penned in ink on rectos only of three sheets of lined paper, EACH PAGE IN THE HAND OF A DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT OF STATE SECRETARY, the three leaves neatly joined at top left corner with a strip of yellow-gold silk ribbon, originally folded twice horizontally, page three with a clean separation along portion of fold and a nick at edge (not affecting text), minor separations at a few other folds. With original envelope, docketed at top in an unidentified hand "Presidents Proclamation."
"ALL PERSONS HELD AS SLAVES...ARE, AND HENCEFORWARD FOREVER SHALL BE FREE": THE "CABINET" DRAFT OF THE FINAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: ONE OF SIX COPIES DRAWN UP FOR THE CABINET TWO DAYS BEFORE THE FINAL PROCLAMATION WAS ISSUED. THE FIRST VERSION TO CALL FOR THE ENLISTMENT OF FORMER SLAVES IN THE UNION ARMY
A highly significant discovery, the document is one of only six Cabinet drafts, possibly Secretary of War Stanton's, written only 48 hours before the issuance of the Final Emancipation Proclamation on 1 January 1863. Of the six drafts, four are part of the Lincoln Papers in the Library of Congress; one other remains unlocated.
Lincoln reportedly told Frank Carpenter, his artist friend, that he regarded the Emancipation Proclamation as "the central act of my administration, and the great event of the nineteenth century"; a recent historian says simply that it "was the most important and most controversial executive document of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency." (Neely) The first draft was written by Lincoln in June, mentioned to Vice-President Hamlin on 18 June and first described to Seward and Welles on 13 July, as they rode in a carriage to attend the funeral of Stanton's son. On 22 July, Lincoln read the draft preliminary proclamation to the whole Cabinet. Heated discussion ensued and the matter was tabled. After McClellan's success in the holding of the Confederate army at Antietam, though, Lincoln determined that it was time to make it public and on 22 September the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was engrossed at the State Department, signed by Lincoln and announced to the nation. In it, he promised that if the rebellion continued, the Final Emancipation Proclamation would be issued on the first day of the New Year, 1863. Many critics--both Northern and Southern--doubted he would follow through with the Proclamation; there was strong dissent in the military and the Republicans fared poorly in the October and November elections. But on 30 December the President--as he had vowed-- took up the issue. He assembled the Cabinet and furnished each of the six members with a manuscript copy of the draft, prepared at the State Department by clerks (each clerk, to save time, had copied one page of the three). These drafts provide blank portions for the insertion of a list of the counties exempted from the Proclamation once this information had been obtained from the military Governors, as well as a blank where two essential paragraphs from the 22 September version were to be inserted (see photo).
While the members followed the text, Lincoln read his draft, then invited criticism and discussion. The following morning, 31 December, the Cabinet held a lengthy session in which the various members' ideas were discussed. Some had written corrections directly into their draft copies. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase had even drawn up an entirely new draft, and objected to making exceptions of fractional portions of states other than West Virginia. Chase also proposed a closing paragraph which invoked the "judgement of mankind and the gracious favor of almighty God." Lincoln kept this closing paragraph, while inserting the defining phrase "upon military necessity," but would not budge from the expedient course of exempting parts of states. There was concern that outlawing slavery in the border states and captured portions of southern states might drive them into the Confederate camp.
Some Cabinet members also took issue with a plan which Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had been urging for months, and which Lincoln in this draft for the first time formally adopted: the introduction of the former slaves into the armed forces of the Union. Chase felt it unnecessary since blacks were already serving in some capacities. Again Lincoln held firm (Eventually 180,000 former slaves joined the Union military). But he did accept a number of small changes in the wording of the Preliminary Draft. Perhaps the most telling of these was striking the crucial word "forever" (page 2, paragraph 3, line 3 in this draft) from the phrase "all persons held as slaves...henceforward 'forever' shall be free."
Lincoln gathered the cabinet members' annotated drafts and suggestions and devoted the rest of 31 December and the morning of 1 January to drafting the Final Emancipation Proclamation, which was transcribed and signed on the afternoon of 1 January, 1863. Jubilant celebrations capped all-night vigils which had taken place throughout the country among abolitionists and black congregations. Pro-slavery factions in the North incited riots in Detroit and elsewhere. Jefferson Davis called it "the most execrable measure in the history of guilty man." Lincoln later donated his holograph Final Draft to a Chicago auction to benefit the Sanitary Commission; the draft perished in the Chicago Fire of 1871; only photographic copies survive. Interestingly, the superscription and formal closing on that draft were by the same State Department secretary who wrote page one of the present Cabinet draft.
According to Basler, "the copies received by Stanton and Welles have not been located, but those of Bates, Blair, Chase, and Seward are in the Lincoln Papers together with each member's suggestions for revision." (Collected Works, 6:24) The LC copies are virtually identical to the one offered here, with the exception of minor differences in line length. The Cabinet copies were all clearly inscribed by the same three secretaries, each drafting one page six times. The present cabinet preliminary draft may be the copy received by Secretary of War Stanton, for according to Nicolay and Hay, Stanton "appears to have left no written memorandum of his suggestions, if he offered any. Stanton was preeminently a man of action, and the probability is that he agreed to the President's draft without amendment." This is consistent with the fact that the draft offered here has no notes or corrections. Welles, on the other hand, offered a number of suggestions for changes.
"ALL PERSONS HELD AS SLAVES...ARE, AND HENCEFORWARD FOREVER SHALL BE FREE": THE "CABINET" DRAFT OF THE FINAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: ONE OF SIX COPIES DRAWN UP FOR THE CABINET TWO DAYS BEFORE THE FINAL PROCLAMATION WAS ISSUED. THE FIRST VERSION TO CALL FOR THE ENLISTMENT OF FORMER SLAVES IN THE UNION ARMY
A highly significant discovery, the document is one of only six Cabinet drafts, possibly Secretary of War Stanton's, written only 48 hours before the issuance of the Final Emancipation Proclamation on 1 January 1863. Of the six drafts, four are part of the Lincoln Papers in the Library of Congress; one other remains unlocated.
Lincoln reportedly told Frank Carpenter, his artist friend, that he regarded the Emancipation Proclamation as "the central act of my administration, and the great event of the nineteenth century"; a recent historian says simply that it "was the most important and most controversial executive document of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency." (Neely) The first draft was written by Lincoln in June, mentioned to Vice-President Hamlin on 18 June and first described to Seward and Welles on 13 July, as they rode in a carriage to attend the funeral of Stanton's son. On 22 July, Lincoln read the draft preliminary proclamation to the whole Cabinet. Heated discussion ensued and the matter was tabled. After McClellan's success in the holding of the Confederate army at Antietam, though, Lincoln determined that it was time to make it public and on 22 September the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was engrossed at the State Department, signed by Lincoln and announced to the nation. In it, he promised that if the rebellion continued, the Final Emancipation Proclamation would be issued on the first day of the New Year, 1863. Many critics--both Northern and Southern--doubted he would follow through with the Proclamation; there was strong dissent in the military and the Republicans fared poorly in the October and November elections. But on 30 December the President--as he had vowed-- took up the issue. He assembled the Cabinet and furnished each of the six members with a manuscript copy of the draft, prepared at the State Department by clerks (each clerk, to save time, had copied one page of the three). These drafts provide blank portions for the insertion of a list of the counties exempted from the Proclamation once this information had been obtained from the military Governors, as well as a blank where two essential paragraphs from the 22 September version were to be inserted (see photo).
While the members followed the text, Lincoln read his draft, then invited criticism and discussion. The following morning, 31 December, the Cabinet held a lengthy session in which the various members' ideas were discussed. Some had written corrections directly into their draft copies. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase had even drawn up an entirely new draft, and objected to making exceptions of fractional portions of states other than West Virginia. Chase also proposed a closing paragraph which invoked the "judgement of mankind and the gracious favor of almighty God." Lincoln kept this closing paragraph, while inserting the defining phrase "upon military necessity," but would not budge from the expedient course of exempting parts of states. There was concern that outlawing slavery in the border states and captured portions of southern states might drive them into the Confederate camp.
Some Cabinet members also took issue with a plan which Secretary of War Edwin Stanton had been urging for months, and which Lincoln in this draft for the first time formally adopted: the introduction of the former slaves into the armed forces of the Union. Chase felt it unnecessary since blacks were already serving in some capacities. Again Lincoln held firm (Eventually 180,000 former slaves joined the Union military). But he did accept a number of small changes in the wording of the Preliminary Draft. Perhaps the most telling of these was striking the crucial word "forever" (page 2, paragraph 3, line 3 in this draft) from the phrase "all persons held as slaves...henceforward 'forever' shall be free."
Lincoln gathered the cabinet members' annotated drafts and suggestions and devoted the rest of 31 December and the morning of 1 January to drafting the Final Emancipation Proclamation, which was transcribed and signed on the afternoon of 1 January, 1863. Jubilant celebrations capped all-night vigils which had taken place throughout the country among abolitionists and black congregations. Pro-slavery factions in the North incited riots in Detroit and elsewhere. Jefferson Davis called it "the most execrable measure in the history of guilty man." Lincoln later donated his holograph Final Draft to a Chicago auction to benefit the Sanitary Commission; the draft perished in the Chicago Fire of 1871; only photographic copies survive. Interestingly, the superscription and formal closing on that draft were by the same State Department secretary who wrote page one of the present Cabinet draft.
According to Basler, "the copies received by Stanton and Welles have not been located, but those of Bates, Blair, Chase, and Seward are in the Lincoln Papers together with each member's suggestions for revision." (Collected Works, 6:24) The LC copies are virtually identical to the one offered here, with the exception of minor differences in line length. The Cabinet copies were all clearly inscribed by the same three secretaries, each drafting one page six times. The present cabinet preliminary draft may be the copy received by Secretary of War Stanton, for according to Nicolay and Hay, Stanton "appears to have left no written memorandum of his suggestions, if he offered any. Stanton was preeminently a man of action, and the probability is that he agreed to the President's draft without amendment." This is consistent with the fact that the draft offered here has no notes or corrections. Welles, on the other hand, offered a number of suggestions for changes.