In the founding documents of the United States, we hear the soaring themes of inalienable rights and the fact that all are created equal. The sad fact is that these majestic ideas are violently abused by the institution of slavery. Though not all slave owners practice the malignant evil of Simon Legree from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," everyone involved in continuing slavery contributes to the brutal subjugation of African Americans. Although state’s rights versus the power of the federal government are part of the cause for the outbreak of the Civil War, unquestionably slavery is the overpowering issue during the four years of awful bloodshed. During the conflict, Lincoln wrestles with the idea of emancipation. There are many reasons for Lincoln to immediately free the slaves, but serious consequences for the North if he issues the edict. Justice demands an immediate emancipation of the slaves, but the military necessity of keeping the four states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri) bordering the Confederacy loyal to the Union remains foremost in Lincoln’s mind. Tonya Bolden tells the story of the monumental heroism needed to finally write the Emancipation Proclamation. The name of this outstanding work of nonfiction is "Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty."
For over 200 years, African Americans are enslaved in North America. During this time, black people have no rights in slave states and can be violently punished, whipped or sold like animals to other slave owners. As the United States expands westward, the slave issue begins pitting the northern states against the slave states in the South. Finally, with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the southern states begin seceding from the Union. Lincoln is not an absolutist on the abolishment of slavery. He will put the reunification of the rebelling southern states ahead of black emancipation. In fact, Lincoln will publically state that "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union." (p. 64) But Lincoln begins to develop a plan that will result in the writing of the famous Emancipation Proclamation. However, an incredible series of political maneuvering, battlefield victories and losses must first occur.
Why is the policy of colonizing parts of South America with freed slaves considered? How many drafts of the Emancipation Proclamation are written? Why are they so very different? Why are people like John Brown revered in the North and hated in the South? Does Lincoln actually free all the slaves in the United States with the Proclamation? Why does Frederick Douglass write that the Emancipation Proclamation was not about logic, but the triumph of jubilee. To find out the answers to these and other questions about this great event, go to the library and read "Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty."
This is a must read book for middle school students. Bolden does a masterful job in writing about the issues involved in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. We see the great leaders of the movement struggling to overturn slavery while Lincoln desperately tries to hold a fractured nation together. This book poignantly tells the story of the people and events that cause the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation. I hope many students get the opportunity to read this marvelous account.
