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Publication Date

7-1-2006

Document Type

Article

First Page

259

Last Page

270

Abstract

On more than one occasion, the historical record has implied that Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a hastily composed document: an impulsive reaction to military events surrounding the Civil War. In fact, it was an evolving idea that began to take shape long before Lincoln read the initial draft of the Proclamation to his cabinet on July 22, 1862. A closer look at the role of Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin of Maine during the most divisive presidency in American history sheds new light on the consideration and deliberation that went into drafting a document that, on January 1, 1863, essentially freed four million slaves. During the preceding months, the Proclamation was so frequently edited, criticized, and transformed by so many different people that it is almost necessary to talk about the Emancipation Proclamations, rather than a solitary Emancipation Proclamation. Hamlin was among those who shared in the president's confidence during these formative months. Allen C. Guelzo is the Grace F. Kea Professor of American History at Eastern University. He is the editor of Holland's Life of Lincoln (University of Nebraska Press, 1998), and the author of Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (which won the Lincoln Prize for 2000), and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (Simon and Schuster, 2004).

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