When Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation where were enslaved Americans NOT freed?
Emancipation Proclamation, signed on January 1, 1863
Red=Freed slaves
Blue=Did NOT free slaves
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
The American Civil War was fought between April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865. On January 1, 1863 Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves. But where? According to the map above, in which states were the slaves freed by the Emancipation Proclamation?
in which states were slaves NOT freed by the Emancipation Proclamation?
Why were slaves not freed in the white states from the map above?
11 states seceded from the Union. Beginning on December 20, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union. They were followed by—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Identify the states that had slaves but did not secede from the Union.
Did the Emancipation Proclamation free ALL the slaves?
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by yourself using your brain and the links below:
Areas that were exempted included not only non-seceding states like Kentucky and Maryland, but also portions of Louisiana and Virginia that were then under Union control. Lincoln also exempted Tennessee, which was partially occupied by Union troops and — Lincoln hoped — could soon be re-incorporated into the Union. Why do you think Lincoln allowed slavery to continue?
Today we remember the Emancipation Proclamation, signed on January 1, 1863, as a triumph for human equality, but that’s not how President Lincoln sold it to his contemporaries. The Union strategy depended crucially on some slaveholding border states remaining loyal to the Union cause. Make a claim about whether it is fair to say that the Emancipation Proclamation allowed slavery to continue in much of the United States.
President Abraham Lincoln altered the course of the Civil War and American society when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863. But the Proclamation actually had its roots in a key announcement made on September 22, 1862. In what became known as the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln made the threat clear, and in public, to the Confederate states that if they didn’t return to the Union by January 1, 1863, the President would make a proclamation freeing slaves in those rebellious territories. Why do you think Lincoln warned the South before issuing the full Emancipation Proclamation?
All slaves in the United States were finally freed with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." The Confederate states would be required to uphold the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery; swear loyalty to the Union; and pay off their war debt. Then they could re-write their state constitutions, hold elections, and begin sending representatives to Washington. South Carolina (November 13, 1865), Alabama (December 2, 1865), North Carolina (December 4, 1865) and finally Georgia (December 6, 1865) agreed to ratify the amendment and thus Secretary of State William Seward officially certified the amendment on December 18, 1865. Americans celebrate Independence Day on July 4. Make an argument about whether Americans should celebrate Union Day as the new birth of the United States on December 18.
Some states voted against ratifying the 13th Amendment, but when 3/4 of the states had ratified the 13th Amendment, it became part of the Constitution. It took Mississippi until 1995 to eventually ratify the 13th Amendment. why do you think it took Mississippi so long to vote to outlaw slavery?
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Print out and sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Get 10 others to sign it and share your printed and signed version with your classmates.
Get Creative
What would Emancipation Proclamation Day be like if we celebrated it as a national holiday. Use your creativity and knowledge of American culture to invent a description of a future Emancipation Proclamation Day.