Excerpt from Fifty Years of Freedom: With Matters of Vital Importance to Both the White and Colored People of the United States
On the twenty-second Of September 18673, President Lincoln issued his Preliminary Proclamation, wh1ch was in the nature of a notice to the states in rebellion, that unless they returned to their allegiance within a specified time the slaves within their borders would be declared free. The time expired without accomplishing the desired result. Accordingly on January 1, 1863, the President issued his Supplemental Proclamation manumitting the slaves with in the rebellious states. This (lid not of course, set them free. They Were still slaves and continued to be as long as the war lasted Freedom did not come, as a matter Of fact, until the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. Courthouse April 9 1865. The effectiveness of the Proclamation depended upon crushing the rebellion. It was the victorious army of the North, under the leadership of General Grant, that gave efficacy to the Proclamation. For all practical purposes, however, We may assume that fifty years have elapsed since freedom came to us as a race. Fifty years is a long time in the history Of an individual, but not very long m that Of a race. It is sufficiently long, however to make it worth while for us to stop and think a little about what these fifty years have meant to us, and to see if there are any lessons in them that may be helpful to us as we enter upon the second half Of a century of freedom.
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