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First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation
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In spite of vocal prodding from abolitionists, President
Lincoln steadfastly refused to make the abolition
of slavery a Northern goal in the early stages of
the Civil War, lest doing so would alienate slaveholding
border states that remained loyal to the Union.
By mid-1862, however, Lincoln’s concern for enhancing
the moral weight of the United States in the eyes
of the world convinced him that it was time to act.
In September 1862, he announced the Emancipation
Proclamation, which would take effect on January
1, 1863, and declared all slaves free in those regions
of the South still in rebellion. |
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Alexander Hay Ritchie (1822–1895), after Francis
Bicknell Carpenter (1830–1900)
Stipple engraving, 1866
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift
of Mrs. Chester E. King
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