By law, slaves were the personal property of their owners in all southern states except Louisiana. The slave owner had absolute authority over his human property, as the Louisiana law made clear: “The master may sell it, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor; [The slave] can do nothing, possess nothing, and acquire only what must belong to his master. O Lord, O my Lord! O my great Lord, prevent me from sinking. — Based on a slave song No problem has marked our country more and has had no more long-term effects than slavery. As we celebrate American freedom, we must also be aware of the long and painful struggle to share those freedoms that generations of African Americans have faced and continue to face. To understand the present, we must look to the past. The reaction of members of Lincoln`s cabinet was mixed. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who correctly interpreted the proclamation as a military measure intended both to deprive the Confederacy of slave labor and to bring additional men into the Union army, advocated its immediate release. Attorney General Edward Bates, a Conservative, opposed civil and political equality for blacks, but gave his support. Welles feared the unintended consequences of emancipation, but remained silent, as did Home Secretary Caleb Smith. Postmaster General Montgomery Blair predicted defeat in the fall election and rejected the proclamation.

Minister of Finance Salmon P. Chase supported the measure, which he noted in his diary, went beyond his own recommendations, but his lukewarm enthusiasm for the proclamation was surprising given his past as an outspoken opponent of slavery. Secretary of State Seward expressed concern about the diplomatic implications of emancipation, pointing to the recent lack of Union military victories, which could lead to the proclamation being interpreted as an act of desperation. It is better to wait for success on the battlefield, Seward advised, and free the proclamation from a position of strength. Lincoln agreed and the course was taken. Freeman [the slave broker] made us raise our heads, walk quickly back and forth while the customers felt our heads, arms and bodies, turned us around, asked us what we could do, made us open our mouths and show our teeth. Sometimes a man or woman was taken back to the small house in the yard, stripped naked and inspected more meticulously. The scars on a slave`s back were considered evidence of a rebellious or unruly spirit and hindered its sale. The cotton harvest season, which began in August, was a time of hard work and fear among slaves. In his book, Solomon Northup describes picking cotton on a plantation on the Red River in Louisiana: Solomon Northup tried to escape, but failed. Then, in 1852, a white carpenter with abolitionist sentiments met Northup and learned of his abduction.

The carpenter wrote several letters on Northup`s behalf to New York State officials. In response, the governor of New York sent an agent with documents proving that Northup was a free black man. After a trial in January 1853, a Louisiana judge freed Northup from slavery. Eventually, he returned home to his wife and children. Like Frémont, General David Hunter attempted emancipation when, in May 1862, he declared slaves free in his Southern Department, which included Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Once again, Lincoln was forced to override a commander who had overstepped his authority over emancipation. Although Lincoln retracted Hunter`s action, he implied that the power to determine these military necessities rested with the president. Only when slaves had finally worked for their master could they return to their own rudimentary huts to support their own families.

The despair of August turned to hope in September when William T. Sherman`s forces captured Atlanta, Georgia, Philip H. Sheridan advanced into the Shenandoah Valley, and the Democrats faced their own divisions over the candidacy of George B. McClellan and a controversial party platform. Lincoln triumphed in the November election. Although the grim plans and promises made in August may now be abandoned, the process of ending slavery is not complete. As a war measure, the status of the Postwar Emancipation Proclamation was challenged, and slavery remained legal in Union-controlled territories in the Confederacy, as well as in slave states bordering the United States.