Emancipation.-Among the extreme war measures adopted by the North-ern government must be counted the emancipation of the slaves in the states inarms against the union.This step was early and repeatedly suggested to Lincoln by the abolitionists;but was steadily put aside.He knew that the abolitionists were a mere handful,that emancipation might drive the border states into se-cession,and that the Northern soldiers had enlisted to save the union.More-over,he had before him a solemn resolution passed by Congress on July 22,1861,declaring the sole purpose of the war to be the salvation of the union and disavowing any intention of interfering with slavery.
The federal government,though pledged to the preservation of slavery,soon found itself beaten back upon its course and out upon a new tack.Before a year had elapsed,namely on April 10,1862,Congress resolved that financial aid should be given to any state that might adopt gradual emancipation.Six days later it abolished slavery in the District of Columbia.Two short months elapsed.On June 19,1862,it swept slavery forever from the territories of the United States.Chief Justice Taney still lived,the Dred Scott decision stood as written in the book,but the Constitution had been re-read in the light of the Civil War.The drift of public sentiment in the North was being revealed.
While these measures were pending in Congress,Lincoln was slowly making up his mind.By July of that year he had come to his great decision.Near the end of that month he read to his cabinet the draft of a proclamation of emancipation;but he laid it aside until a military achievement would make it something more than an idle gesture.In September,the severe check administered to Lee at Antietam seemed to offer the golden opportunity.On the 22d,the immortal document was given to the world announcing that,unless the states in arms returned to the union by January 1,1863,the fatal blow at their "peculiar institution"would be delivered.Southern leaders treated it with slight regard,and so on the date set the promise was fulfilled.The proclamation was issued as a war measure,adopted by the President as commander-in-chief of the armed forces,on grounds of military necessity.It did not abolish slavery.It simply emancipated slaves in places then in arms against federal authority.Everywhere else slavery,as far as the Proclamation was concerned,remained lawful.
To seal forever the proclamation of emancipation,and to extend freedom to the whole country,Congress,in January,1865,on the urgent recommendation of Lincoln,transmitted to the states the thirteenth amendment,abolishing slavery throughout the United States.By the end of 1865the amendment was ratified.The house was not divided against itself;it did not fall;it was all free.
The Restraint of Civil Liberty.-As in all great wars,particularly those in the nature of a civil strife,it was found necessary to use strong measures to sus-tain opinion favorable to the administration's military policies and to frustratethe designs of those who sought to hamper its action.Within two weeks of his first call for volunteers,Lincoln empowered General Scott to suspend the writ of habeas corpus along the line of march between Philadelphia and Washing-ton and thus to arrest and hold without interference from civil courts any one whom he deemed a menace to the union.At a later date the area thus ruled by military officers was extended by executive proclamation.By an act of March 3,1863,Congress,desiring to lay all doubts about the President's power,au-thorized him to suspend the writ throughout the United States or in any part thereof.It also freed military officers from the necessity of surrendering to civil courts persons arrested under their orders,or even making answers to writs is-sued from such courts.In the autumn of that year the President,acting under the terms of this law,declared this ancient and honorable instrument for the protection of civil liberties,the habeas corpus,suspended throughout the length and breadth of the land.The power of the government was also strengthened by an act defining and punishing certain conspiracies,passed on July 31,1861-a measure which imposed heavy penalties on those who by force,intimidation,or threat interfered with the execution of the law.
