LAD #20

LAD 20: Emancipation proclamation

January 1, 1863

On September 22, 1862 I issued a proclamation that contained the following: On January 1, 1863, all persons held as slaves in any State or part of a State that was in rebellion against the United States shall be then and forever free.  The United States Government and military will recognize and maintain that freedom.

The following States are this day in rebellion:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (with exceptions), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia (with exceptions) 

I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be free. 

I ask the people declared to be free to abstain from violence and recommend that they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.  Also, such persons of suitable condition can join the military.

I believe this to be an act of justice, and ask for the considerate judgement of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

Photo2: still in the 20th century African Americans faced discrimination, and people like Martin Luther King Jr. fought for those rights. 

                                                                                                

LAD #19

LAD 19:  Lincoln second inaugural address

March 4, 1865:

There is less occasion for a long speech now then at the first inauguration.  The progress of the war is well know, and I have high hopes for the future but no prediction.  Four years ago everyone was worried about an impending civil war.  Neither side wanted it - but one would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.

One-eight of the whole population were colored slaves, localized in the South.  The insurgents wanted to strengthen, perpetuate, and extend slavery.  The Government only wanted to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.  Neither side expected such a large, long war - each side expected an easy victory.  We hope the war will soon end.

Let us strive to finish the work we are in, bind the nation’s wounds, and achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

 

Photo2: Obama's inaugural address

LAD #18

Chief Justice Roger Taney's Decision in the Dred Scott vs. Sanford Supreme Count case 

When the court met for the first time since the reargument to discuss the case, it favored a moderate decision in favor of Sanford, but did not consider the larger issue of Negro citizenship and the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise.  In the final decision, it seems the two most antislavery justices may have forced a more proslavery opinion than originally planned.

President-elect James Buchanan needed to know the court’s decision so he would know what to say about the territorial issue in his inaugural address on March 4, 1857.  He took the opportunity to throw his support to the Court.

Two days after Buchanan’s inauguration, Chief Justice Taney read their decision.  He first addressed the question of Negro citizenship, slave and free blacks:  Taney’s opinion stated that Negroes, even free Negroes, were not citizens of the Unites States, and that therefore Scott did not even have the privilege of being able to sue in a federal court.  On the question of the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise:  Taney reasoned that the Missouri Compromise derived slaveholding citizens of their property in the form of slaves and that therefore the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. 

Scott’s last hope was that the Chief Justice could decide that Scott was free because of his stay in the free state of Illinois.  Taney made no such decision.  Scott had brought suit in Missouri and hence he was still a slave because Missouri was a slave state.

 Photo2: later in the 1800's the supreme court was still ruling against the complete equality of African Americans.