Document Analysis Practice: 'The Emancipation Proclamation'

Document Analysis Practice: 'The Emancipation Proclamation'

Read the excerpt from 'The Emancipation Proclamation' carefully. Then, answer the questions that follow, using evidence from the text to support your responses.

The Emancipation Proclamation (excerpt)

By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

'That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 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.'

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, Vermillion, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

1. What is the main purpose of this document, according to the excerpt?

2. Identify one specific group of people or geographic area that was NOT immediately freed by this proclamation, and explain why.

3. The phrase 'Commander-in-Chief' suggests that President Lincoln issued this proclamation primarily under his authority as:

4. The phrase 'fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion' indicates that the proclamation was also intended to:

5. The Emancipation Proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves in states or parts of states in   against the United States would be free.

6. The proclamation was issued on January 1,  .

7. Analyze the tone and purpose of Abraham Lincoln's language in this excerpt. How does his choice of words contribute to the overall message and potential impact of the document?