On this day: Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

cultureSep 22, 202629154

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation after meeting his cabinet in Washington, declaring that enslaved people in states or parts of states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, would be declared free. The announcement followed the Union halt of the Confederate invasion at the Battle of Antietam five days earlier, the bloodiest single day of battle in American military history, and used that Union advantage to issue the threat of emancipation. The proclamation did not immediately abolish slavery nationwide; it applied only to areas in open rebellion and left loyal border states untouched. Lincoln’s declaration recast the Civil War as an explicit struggle against slavery, created a pathway for enlistment of Black soldiers in the Union armed forces, and strengthened the connection between Union victory and emancipation. The proclamation also altered the conflict’s international significance by making support for the Confederacy tantamount to supporting slavery. Historians credit the September 22 declaration with helping set the United States on the path toward the constitutional abolition of slavery in 1865.

Dr. Todd Arrington

@btarrington.bsky.social

OTD in 1862, five days after US victory at Antietam, President Lincoln issued Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation giving Confederate states until 1/1/1863 to end rebellion or face permanent emancipation of enslaved people. Applied to states in open rebellion (so NOT border states). Image: NARA.

This color image shows the first handwritten page of President Abraham Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

6018d ago

Quoting this

Scott Imberman47

I actually never knew that there was an "out" for the Confederacy to avoid ending slavery. Likely they'd never take it, and that was prob Lincoln's perception so as to build public support for the proc, and it was a war measure first and foremost, but it's nonetheless an interesting detail.

Paul Rosenberg4

Worth noting that when I was a kid I read a TON of Civil War books, and I'm pretty damn sure that not ONE of them made this sort of obviously important connection between the militaray & the political.

Nathaniel Dorsey

@natedorsey60l.bsky.social

Also, on this day in 1862, US President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclomation, threatening to free all enslaved people in rebel Southern states if they fail to rejoin the Union by January, 1,1863. As we know the Proclomation became US law and the battle began.

3318d ago

Bob Geiger

@bobgeiger.bsky.social

This Day in History: September 22, 1862: President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Confederate states. Or, as Trump supporters now say, "Where things all went wrong..." www.history.com/this-day-in-...

2217d ago

Frank Amari

@frankamari.bsky.social

On this date in 1862, following the Battle of Antietam Union victory, President Lincoln signed the preliminary EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, formally alerting the Confederacy of his intention to free all enslaved persons within the rebellious states.

817d ago

Eric Rosen

@erosen1.bsky.social

#BLM OTD 1862 in response to heavy Confederate losses at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in rebelling states if those states did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. #BlackAmericanHistoryIsAmericanHistory

518d ago

The Story of Writing

@sownow.bsky.social

On this day in 1862, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln released his early version of the Emancipation Proclamation. It offered Confederate states a choice: stop the war of secession and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, or the Union will free the slaves and permanently end slavery in rebel states. 🧵

Page 1 of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation
Source: Britannica

418d ago

The Civil War Monitor

@cwmonitor.bsky.social

Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation #otd in 1862, declaring that if the Confederates did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free.

518d ago

Sarah Primate

@langurlover.bsky.social

1862: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which warned the Confederacy that he would free all enslaved people in states “in rebellion against the United States” on January 1, 1863.

317d ago

Ginny

@gmoyer17.bsky.social

Today, in 1862, Abraham Lincoln Issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, warning the Confederate states that all enslaved people would be declared free if they did not stop fighting and return to the Union.

318d ago

What's Past is Prologue

@wpip.bsky.social

September 22, 1862 marked a major turning point in the Great Slaveholders' Rebellion. Preliminary Draft of #EmancipationProclamation. Abraham Lincoln, July 22, 1862. Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833-1916. Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Manuscript Division.

Photo of the hand-written Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln (from the Library of Congress)

217d ago

Democracy Matters!

@democracymatters.bsky.social

#OnThisDay #ThePeoplesHistory SEPT. 22, 1862: PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

217d ago

Annette Shaffer🇨🇦😷

@misskachoob.bsky.social

Sep 22 Historybook: President Abraham Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (1862); Peace Corps formally authorized by Congress (1961); Iraq invades Iran, beginning the Iran-Iraq War (1980); “Friends” debuts on NBC (1994); Baseball great Yogi Berra dies (2015). Happy Vernal Equinox!

217d ago

History Today

@historytoday.com

The #EmancipationProclamation was signed #OnThisDay in 1862. A miniature Emancipation Proclamation helped to recruit Black soldiers during the Civil War. 🔓 This article is free for 7 days www.historytoday.com/archive/hist...

117d ago

Mike Dillon

@mike1702.bsky.social

Today in 1862, Lincoln, with his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declared the priority of the war was freeing the slaves, not reunification.

18d ago

E Denzer

@edenzer.bsky.social

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery

118d ago

2 sources

openchronicle.orgToday in History September 22, 1862: Abraham Lincoln Issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Open Chronicle Open Chronicle dpreisig.comAbraham Lincoln Was Funnier Than His Photographs Make Him Look

On this day: Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamationculture

On this day: Lincoln issues preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

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