Monthly Archives: July 2012

I hope the readership of Civil War Emancipation will indulge me as I make a seriously off-topic post. This post is a response to an op-ed essay that appeared in the New York Times on July 19, 2012. This piece was written … Continue reading →

It amazes me sometimes that there are still serious, even distinguished historians around today who believe it necessary to downplay the active role the slaves played in their own liberation. They tend to set up the straw man of “self-emancipation” … Continue reading →

July 22, 1862 is certainly a notable day in the history of emancipation in the American Civil War. It was on this date, 150 years ago today, that Abraham Lincoln presented the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his … Continue reading →

Since the beginning of the Civil War, a contentious topic in the North was whether African Americans should be allowed to serve in the Union Army (blacks had long been allowed to serve in the navy, although only in its … Continue reading →

The passage of the First Confiscation Act by Congress in August 1861 created a problem. While the law was popular in the North, as it deprived rebels of their slaves if they could reach Union lines, it also created a problem. … Continue reading →

Since early March 1862, Abraham Lincoln had lobbied the remaining loyal border states to embrace a plan of gradual compensated emancipation. His efforts had met with steadfast refusal by slaveholders there determined to hold on to their human property and … Continue reading →

Last month saw three articles, all in the New York Times, that will be of interest to readers of Civil War Emancipation. The first, which appeared on June 11, titled “Liberation as a Death Sentence” discusses Jim Downs recently published book, Sick from … Continue reading →

Originally posted on Civil War Emancipation:
My all-time favorite Frederick Douglass speech is “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass delivered this address in Rochester, N.Y., on July 5, 1852. In it, Douglass attacked the hypocrisy of…

Benjamin Butler’s time in charge of Union-occupied New Orleans in 1862 has become legendary. For his supporters, it was yet another example of the Union general’s administrative acumen. For his detractors, it showed Butler at his worst: trampling on the … Continue reading →