Important Decisions
Lincoln and his cabinet struggled with what do to with slavery but eventually sided with emancipation
Lincoln's cabinet, the men who made the decisions
- General John C. Fremont issued military emancipation in his district on August 30, 1861
- Lincoln quickly reversed the decision
- In 1861, Lincoln drafted a bill to free slaves with compensatory measures, was never introduced
- General David Hunter issued a proclamation similar to Fremont's which Lincoln promptly reversed
- Lincoln used these examples to signify the "signs of the times."
- Lincoln realized he had two option:
2. Send them somewhere else
- Lincoln experimented by creating a colony to settle slaves but it ended in complete failure
- In cabinet meeting, Lincoln first proposed freeing all slaves, meeting mixed reactions
- Lincoln delivered his preliminary document of the Emancipation Proclamation after Antietam