The Coming of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Coming of the Emancipation Proclamation
By PAUL FINKELMAN


Lincoln told Welles the issue was one of military necessity. “We must free the slaves” he said, “or be ourselves subdued.” Slaves, Lincoln argued “were undeniably an element of strength to those who had their service, and we must decide whether that element should be with us or against us.” Lincoln also rejected the idea that the Constitution still protected slavery in the Confederacy.The rebels,” he said, “could not at the same time throw off the Constitution and invoke its aid. Having made war on the Government, they were subject to the incidents and calamities of war.”

Lincoln had found a constitutional theory that would be acceptable to most Northerners. Regardless of how they felt about slavery or the constitutional power of the federal government, few were willing to come to the defense of the rebels. And in any case, the legal questions were largely moot: until the war ended with a Union victory, the South couldn’t very easily challenge the proclamation in court. After decades of political and constitutional stalemate over slavery, Lincoln had figured out a path toward freedom for millions of men and women in bondage.