Emancipation Proclamation Essay

Emancipation Proclamation

Since issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, politicians and historians have debated its Constitutionality and Lincoln's approach to emancipation in general. Allen Guelzo, a noted historian, supports both the Constitutionality and Lincoln's approach. Guelzo believes that Lincoln was determined to abolish slavery from the first day of his Presidential term and that emancipation was constitutionally accomplished by Lincoln's "war powers."

Allen Guelzo's View of the Constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by Lincoln on January 1, 1863,[footnoteRef:1] the Emancipation Proclamation "announced the extinction of slavery."[footnoteRef:2] Contrary to historians who believe that Lincoln grew into his conviction against slavery, Guelzo believes that Lincoln knew from the beginning of his Presidency that slavery would end during his administration.[footnoteRef:3] In Guelzo's view, Lincoln was "enlightened,"[footnoteRef:4] ably preserving the central idea of America -- freedom - by using vaguely defined presidential authority known as "war powers."[footnoteRef:5] In Guelzo's estimation, the vagueness of these powers granted to the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army and Navy by the Constitution is due to the Constitution itself[footnoteRef:6] but that war powers definitely empowered a president to use martial law in civilian affairs during national emergencies.[footnoteRef:7] The sole opinion stated about war powers had been given by former President John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives in 1836, 1841 and 1842, in which Adams stated that war powers could be used to abolish slavery during national emergencies.[footnoteRef:8] According to Guelzo, that "national emergency" was legitimately precipitated by the nonresponsiveness of the Border States and the unreliability of General McClellan's military endeavors between the presentation of the Proclamation's rough draft to the Cabinet and the Battle at Antietam.[footnoteRef:9] Furthermore, despite McClellan's victory at Antietam, the President adamantly remained committed to emancipation, and so legitimately used his war powers to issue the proclamation.[footnoteRef:10] [1: Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004), 229.] [2: Ibid.] [3: Ibid., p. 5.] [4: Ibid., p. 3.] [5: Ibid., p. 113.] [6: Ibid.] [7: Ibid., p. 114.] [8: Ibid.] [9: Ibid., p. 160.] [10: Ibid., p. 161.]

The Constitutional Factors that Lincoln had to take into Account in Deciding to Issue the Emancipation Proclamation

According to Guelzo, Lincoln had to employ a "politics of prudence," balancing "the integrity of ends" -- ending slavery -- with "the integrity of means" -- his Presidential oath to uphold the Constitution.[footnoteRef:11] This politics of prudence required Lincoln to consider several Constitutional factors in addition to those already mentioned above. Lincoln knew, for example, that the Constitution and state laws prevented Congress and/or the President from mandating against slavery….....