en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Emancipation_Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. In a single stroke, it changed the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people in the designated areas of the South from "slave" to "free". It had the practical effect that as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave became legally free. Eventually it reached and liberated all of the designated slaves. It was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States.[1]
It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in ten states.[2] Because it was issued under the President's war powers, it necessarily excluded areas not in rebellion - it applied to more than 3 million of the 4 million slaves at the time. The Proclamation was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces;[3] it was not a law passed by Congress. The Proclamation also ordered that suitable persons among those freed could be enrolled into the paid service of United States' forces, and ordered the Union Army (and all segments of the Executive branch) to "recognize and maintain the freedom of" the ex-slaves. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not outlaw slavery, and did not grant citizenship to the ex-slaves (called freedmen). It made the eradication of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union. [4]
Around 20,000 to 50,000 slaves in regions where rebellion had already been subdued were immediately emancipated. It could not be enforced in areas still under rebellion, but as the Union army took control of Confederate regions, the Proclamation provided the legal framework for freeing more than 3 million slaves in those regions. Prior to the Proclamation, in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, escaped slaves were either returned to their masters or held in camps as contraband for later return. The Proclamation applied only to slaves in Confederate-held lands; it did not apply to those in the four slave states that were not in rebellion (Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri, which were unnamed), nor to Tennessee (unnamed but occupied by Union troops since 1862) and lower Louisiana (also under occupation), and specifically excluded those counties of Virginia soon to form the state of West Virginia. Also specifically excluded (by name) were some regions already controlled by the Union army. Emancipation in those places would come after separate state actions and/or the December 1865 ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery and indentured servitude, except for those duly convicted of a crime, illegal everywhere subject to United States jurisdiction.[5]
en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Presidential_proclamation
A presidential proclamation is a statement issued by a president on a matter of public policy. They are generally defined as, "The act of causing some state matters to be published or made generally known. A written or printed document in which are contained such matters, issued by proper authority; as the president's proclamation, the governor's, the mayor's proclamation."[1] In the United States, the President's proclamation does not have the force of law, unless authorized by Congress.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execut ive_order
United States presidents issue executive orders to help officers and agencies of the executive branch manage the operations within the federal government itself. Executive orders have the full force of law when they take authority from a legislative power which grants its power directly to the Executive by the Constitution, or are made pursuant to Acts of Congress that explicitly delegate to the President some degree of discretionary power (delegated legislation)........ There is no constitutional provision nor statute that explicitly permits executive orders.
Click for Full Text!
Poster Comment:
We've heard all our lives that the thing only freed the slaves in areas not under yankee control, and you see how much more complicated/ cynical/ meaningless it was than that. I'd never stopt to think (despite the name) it was merely a proclamation or EO.
Clearly any EOs in the form of a national legal decree are laughably void ab initio unless ratified by Congress, and this one wasn't. And proclamations are normally just glorified announcements, right -- "Next week on the 20th of May we proclaim Eliza Doolittle Day", "National Bingo Champions week" or whatever?
Especially considering Lincoln had promised while campaigning that he would never interfere with slavery, it seems the EP was pure, concentrated BS. wikid hrumphs that it was based on "the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces." I say that only compounds the sheer knavery and effrontery of it. What do yawl say?