Chapter 86 Emancipation Proclamation
"That on the fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom."- Abraham Lincoln 1862
"Every day since I have been freed, I have prayed to the Lord that others may escape from bondage and experience true freedom. It seems my prayers have been answered."- Frederick Douglass 1863
"Out of all the documents within American history there are three that are most important. The Declaration of Independence for casting aside the yoke of oppression from England and giving birth to the United States, creating a beacon of hope in a world of tyranny. The Constitution, the framework upon which our government rules and the exemplary model of democratic rule. Finally we have the Emancipation Proclamation, the piece of paper that made sure that the previous two did their jobs."- President Doug Freeman 1985
In the first half of the American Civil War, the exact causes and reasons for fighting were unclear on both sides. Toombs and the rest of the Confederacy claimed that the secession was legal due to the tyranny of Abraham Lincoln and how the Republicans were going to threaten their way of life. In many aspects this couldn't be farther from the truth as President Lincoln was not even in Washington when the Confederacy formed and the Republican Party while obstructing much of Douglas' and later Toombs' legislature, did not do anything that was oppressive to the country. The Confederacy proclaimed themselves as champions of state's rights and that their secession was completely legal due to the sovereignty of each state according to the Constitution. In reality this was nothing more than a paper-thin excuse to keep the institution of slavery which many Liberal Republicans were firmly behind the abolition of. Yet even these fears were false as while Abraham Lincoln promised on the campaign trail to end slavery in the territories, he also made firm that he would not force the existing slave states to abolish the institution and that he would respect the Missouri Compromise. After the opening shots of Fort Sumter the issue of slavery was put on the back of the Union's mind as the survival of the Union took precedence. Adding to this was the fact that there were five (six counting East Tennessee) states within the Union that still retained slavery. As the war continued however, the question kept on popping up again with runaway slaves in newly-liberated territory along with some Union commanders (most predominantly from the New England states) taking the initiative to liberate any plantations or farms with slaves that they came across. Yet no one would be prepared for the Nassau Revolt and the consequences that came of it.
When looking back at the Nassau Revolt, it can easily be seen as one part of a bigger picture, especially with the more dynamic actions taking place at New Orleans, Nashville, Bowling Green, etc. According to contemporary sources this was far from the case as the Bahamas would soon occupy the minds of nearly everyone in North America and cause a big discussion on the status of slavery. In the near ninety years of America's existence every slave revolt had generally ended in failure with the only limited success' being short ones before the arrival of federal or state troops that would quell the rebellion. The only successful resistance towards slavery was the Underground Railroad where slaves would runaway from their plantations and with the help of conductors such as Harriet Tubman, escape to Northern lines where local and state jurisdiction ended and they could be considered free. While thousands of slaves were freed through this method, many more failed in their objective to run away and laws against resistance in the South became harsher each year. The only slave revolt of considerable size that succeeded was the Haitian Revolution where the island of Haiti cast off their chains from the rule of Spain and France. The actions on Hispaniola did cause a fear of revolts in the South in the 1810's and 1820's, but did not have much impact due to it taking place on foreign colonies. For all intents and purposes Haiti could've taken place in the Inidan Ocean for how far away it was considered from the eyes of the American public. The Bahamas were an entirely different story as they were a American state and featured the deaths of a large portion of the island's population (most of the White Bahamians were male due to the quick nature of the island's colonization and low prospects for a family in the tropical archipelago with so little infrastructure. So stories of massacres and rape of women and children by slaves that were spread by Confederate propaganda did not occur with the exception of a few tragic cases). Outrage spread throughout both the Confederacy
and the Union over this case. Acts of violence took place all over America with differing contrasts on opposite sides of the civil war. Within the South dozens of revolts erupted by slaves who had heard of Nassau and wish to follow in the example of Atticus Harris. Almost all of these ended in failure due to the highly disorganize and ill-equipped nature of the uprisings with so many revolts being too far behind the front lines for Union troops to assist. Of the revolts in the South in 1862 only four were able to succeed; the Free State of Jones in Jones County Mississippi, the Nation of the Everglades led by Frederick Radcliff, and the Republics of the Bayou and Tar Heel in both Louisiana and North Carolina which were reinforced by Union regiments, the latter three being slave revolts. Racial crimes were rapid as plantation masters brutally tortured the slaves who revolted or stayed neutral, while white vigilantes operated in the countryside and killed slaves indiscriminately. The full numbers of atrocities have unfortunately never been accounted, but it's been estimated that over 5,000 slaves died in racial violence in 1862 with countless more forced to endure harsh punishments for their skin color. All was not well up North as race riots and violence occurred against free blacks with Southern sympathizers and Copperheads blaming them for the cause of the war and the deaths of thousands of Americans. At the same time Abolitionists and Radical Republicans organized mass protests and petitions to Washington to demand action on Nassau and begin the process of ending slavery, while the Democrats lined up in opposition to uphold the status quo. The White House received multiple letters each day with an equal number of death threats and hopeful pleas to President Lincoln on the issue. With the nation teetering apart while victory was being achieved on the Battlefield, Abraham Lincoln had to make a choice that could save the Union and lay the groundwork for the future equality and freedom of generations of Black Americans to come.
Before the Proclamation the Republican Congress had been quick at work to ending the institution of slavery with the much limited slave opposition. On April 19th of 1862, slavery in Washington D.C was offically abolished with the compensation of the citizens of the District of Columbia. A law was also in the works for abolishing slavery in all current and future territories of the United States, though this ran into heavy opposition in the Senate with frequent filibusters. Around a few weeks after Nassau, Lincoln came up with the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation and began writing it down for effect. In Mid-June the Lincoln cabinet was assembled with Lincoln reading out a rough draft. Most of the cabinet was supportive of the measure with Secretary of State Nathaniel Smith being in high support of it, calling the Proclamation "The greatest achievement by any President since Washington." Vice President Seward while an abolitionist, was more uncertain of the full ramifications of the Proclamation and urged Lincoln to wait until a major Union victory to issue it. Against the advice of Seward, Lincoln chose to issue it soon so that way tensions over Nassau could be dropped and the first steps towards solving slavery would begin. On July 4th Lincoln called a special session of Congress to give his speech. In it Lincoln gave a five minute address concerning the situation prior to the session and the need to resolve the slavery question with decisive action. The actual words of the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery as the 14th Amendment later would, but instead ended it in all areas of active rebellion towards the Union. Special citation was needed due to the murky status of the Confederate splinter governments and decried the Proclamation to be enforced "in rebellious states whose governments have by a clear majority and with their respective legislatures, chosen to fight for the Confederacy." This meant that the only states who could retain slavery were Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, Kentucky, and East Tennessee. While unfortunate the situation was necessary due to the need of an amendment to eliminate the institution entirely while Lincoln was able to do so in Confederate territories under his powers as Commander-in-chief. The impact was nevertheless huge as nearly 3 million slaves would be legally liberated from bondage, including the entire slave populations of Tennessee, the Bahamas, Southern Louisiana, Northern Arkansas, most of North Carolina, and Kentucky and Seqouyah.
First reading of the Emancipation Proclamation
The lasting impact of the Emancipation Proclamation was wide both domestically and internationally. Within the Union celebrations erupted in several states over the huge moral victory. Along with the Emancipation Proclamation came the official order to allow the enlistment of Blacks to the Union Army. This allowed the formation of several Black Regiments with 200,000 serving in the war and its immediate aftermath. The largest was the Bahamas Division which included four full brigades of Bahamian troops and were the only units to allow Black officers in command thanks to the unique situation in the Bahamas, Atticus Harris himself obtaining a commission as a Colonel (The Division itself was headed by Major General Henry Halleck). Legislative action was swiftly passed with the Territorial Abolition Act which saw the abolishment of slavery in all Union territories. As Union Armies marched deeper into the South they were now met by thousands of escaped slaves who tagged along the regiments in order to ensure their freedom and possibly fight in colored regiments against their former oppressors. Sherman's Army of Tennessee had the highest rate of liberation of slaves due to the generals belief in total war with the slaves representing critical resources that would economically ruin the South, over the course of the war Sherman would come to liberate over 500,000 slaves, earning him the love and adoration of many blacks comparable to Lincoln and the naming of several sons as William or Bill. The South reacted with outrage over the move with Toombs calling it "A desperate act by Lincoln to crush our spirits, and one that proves the righteousness of the cause." Laws were passed in Montgomery with harsher restrictions on the legal status of slaves while conditions generally got worse for the slave population until the end of the war. The Emancipation Proclamation would come to be a major factor in Union success in the war, not only due to its addition of multiple black regiments, but also the economic devastation of the South with the resistance or escape of slaves which utterly killed the plantation economy and would set it back for several decades until its revitalization under the Long Administration.
The Massachusetts 54th, the most prominent colored regiment outside the Bahamas Division thanks to their actions in South Carolina and the capture of Charleston
Across the rest of the world reactions towards the Emancipation Proclamation were generally well received. Several Latin American countries cheered in celebration for it (with the exception of Brazil of course) as they had already went through their hardships of slavery and were glad to find that their gringo cousins were doing the same. Benito Juarez even used the Emancipation Proclamation as a propaganda tool against Texas by putting it as a morally righteous war against Anglo slavers who clung onto the institution while their brethren in Washington had decided to cast it off. The news was welcome in the colony of Liberia as the American migrants who came to escape the institution no longer had to live in fear of slavery being established within their borders. Within the borders of the colony a Civil Rights movement grew with the formation of the Liberian Republicans by Edward James Roye with the objective of working their way towards statehood, promoting a higher way of life for Liberian citizens, and secure the rights of their brethren in the America to follow their example along with that of the Bahamas. Western Europe reacted near universally in encouragement of the Proclamation with several Liberals and past abolitionists celebrating another nail in the coffin of slavery. The highest amount of support within Europe was that of the Italian Federation with Pope Pius praising Abraham Lincoln in a homily for killing the ungodly institution while Prime Minister Giuseppe Garibaldi wrote a letter of encouragement towards Lincoln and hailing him as the successor of the American Revolutionaries, saying "Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure." The Emancipation Proclamation is widely regarded by historians to be the final straw for Confederate diplomacy which utterly killed their chances of recognition. Many aristocrats within Paris had been encouraging Emperor Napoleon to support the Confederacy along with Texas so as to firmly establish a dominant French sphere of influence in the Americas, Napoleon would refuse to head these calls after the Proclamation and would join the Liberals in praising it and enforcing harsher laws against any form of slavery in Algeria. Much of the British public erupted into celebration for the Proclamation as Britain was a largely pro-abolition society and thus it earned Lincoln the admiration of the working poor within England. This proved to be a monumental blow to Queen Victoria who with the support of British nobles created numerous blockade runners to send supplies and cash to the Confederacy and had been entertaining Confederate envoys for months. The highlight of the issue came with the Trent Affair with the USS Vancouver raiding a British ship and arresting two Confederate diplomats on board. It was only thanks to the mediation of Prince Albert and Napoleon proclaiming strong support with the Union on the issue, that a declaration of war by Parliament was averted. In fact war came so close that there were several plans drawn up by the Royal Navy and Army for an invasion of both Quebec and the United States with the sending of 25,000 British Regulars to Canada in 1861. These war plans would later be withdrawn into obscurity by the end of the year and would not see the light of day until 1935 when Lord Protector Oliver Mosley leaked them to the public to show the abysmal morals of the British monarchy. Not all were pleased however as there were still three other slave states within the world; Spain, Brazil, and Texas. In Spain the Emancipation Proclamation caused a flurry of debate with the Liberal faction in support of abolition, though Queen Isabella refraining against any such actions, her inaction leading in large part to the Cuban Revolution and her subsequent deposition. The Empire of Brazil reacted lukewarmly to the measure and mobilized its Army for the rise of possible slave revolts which thankfully never came, though it did cause Don Pedro to seriously consider the issue and begin looking into possible Emancipation, something which would be achieved in the 1870's and become a leadup to the November Coup and partially responsible for the beginning of the South American War. In Texas there was great cause for concern with Western Union congressman demanding action from the Seguin administration over the matter and the securing of their rights. Seguin was thankfully able to push the issue aside by proclaiming the need to focus on Mexico first, while politicians on both parties soon let it drop with elections (though it did play a part in the presidential race). However Seguin knew that he would need to take action sometime in his presidency or else he would risk Texas falling to the fate of America. Eventually he would with the passing of the 17th Amendment on Juneteenth.
A/N: So I found out that yesterday was Juneteenth in Texas with the celebration of the abolition of slavery. While I was unfortunately unable to get the chapter with Texas's abolition, or even this one on the right day, I hope that it's enough to celebrate. We'll see the full abolition of slavery within the next year of the TL and Texas will get to it soon after the war is finished. Happy late Juneteenth!
