House bill and emancipation proclamation and their significance

The Emancipation Declaration is a declaration issued by American President abraham lincoln, which advocates that all slaves in the rebel areas of the Confederacy should enjoy freedom. However, the exemption targets include border States that have not left the Federation and States under federal control. This declaration only liberated a small number of slaves immediately, but in essence strengthened the freedom authority of these slaves after the federal army took control of the confederate territory, paving the way for the eventual abolition of slavery in the United States.

How to issue a declaration?

The whole declaration was issued in two parts: the first part was issued on September 22 1862, which was a compilation announcement outlining the purpose of the second part; The second part came into effect on 1863 65438+ 10/,which was the second year of the civil war, including abraham lincoln's statement that all slaves who left the union and returned to the states under the control of the confederacy should be in 1 863 65438+1 at the latest. When the second part was published, the names of ten states were mentioned one by one, but Maryland, Delaware (at that time, no state left the Union), Tennessee (at that time, it was indeed under federal control), Missouri and Kentucky (there were several factional governments accepted by the Confederation, but they did not formally leave the Union) were deliberately ignored. 48 co-sponsors of West Virginia and other listed Virginia counties expressed special exemptions; It also includes several federally controlled counties in New Orleans and Louisiana.

Historical background

After the civil war broke out, quite a few slaves volunteered to help the federal war for their own freedom, but there were still some conflicts on how to deal with the slave problem in the occupied areas. At first, Lincoln withdrew the liberation orders issued by some generals, and the strict implementation of this policy forced the escaped slaves to return to their southern masters. However, in March 1862, the confederate government banned all federal commanders from repatriating fugitive slaves, which affected the abolition of the fugitive slave law 1850. On April 1862, 1 1 day, Congress announced that the federal government had guaranteed the release of slave owners, and all slaves in Washington were liberated on April 1862, 16. 1862 in July, Congress abolished slavery in the federal territory, which invalidated the resolution made by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford: this resolution once caused Congress to have no right to supervise slavery in the whole country.

Lincoln once claimed that he had no constitutional right to liberate slaves. In addition, the liberation of slaves is a risky political act, because some slave-holding States are still loyal to the Federation, and the original purpose of the war is to protect the integrity of the Federation, not to liberate slaves. Based on this, this declaration was only a copy at that time. Lincoln himself thought it was a military order issued as the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, not a bill or constitutional amendment with the same status promulgated by Congress. There are other arguments that the Emancipation Proclamation is unconstitutional, and it is a kind of leader's expansion of power to direct military operations, rather than creating new laws (refer to Youngstown Sheet and Pipeline Company v. Sawyer, 343 U.S.579 (1952), which claims that the President, as the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, has no right to control steel mills to make them serve the Korean War). The Emancipation Proclamation also transferred the consent right to liberate slaves to the federal army (although the army itself practiced apartheid). This rare opportunity benefited nearly 200,000 blacks who had been slaves, and also gave northerners extra human resources, which southerners could not follow until a few days before the defeat.

Lincoln first discussed the manifesto with his cabinet in July, 1862, but considering the political impact of this move (including the slave-holding States in the Federation), he felt that the Union Army needed a victory to release it. After the Union Army repelled the Confederate invasion of Maryland at the Battle of Antietam, it issued a preliminary declaration on September 22nd, 1862, and a final declaration on September 22nd1October the following year.

The Emancipation Declaration itself is limited by its direct influence on slavery, and it can only take effect in the federal territory under federal control. Slavery in the border States (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia) was not affected at all because it remained loyal to the Union. Secretary of State William Seward once commented: "The way we show sympathy for slavery is to liberate those slaves that we can't control and enslave those that we can control." Any state that seceded from the Union should rejoin the Union before the declaration takes effect (or just send their congressmen back to Washington), and at least temporarily maintain slavery (although Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia gradually abolished slavery through internal political operation as early as the amendment of the US Constitution 1865 approved the lifting of the legality of national slavery).

immediate impact

domestic

In addition to the limited direct impact on slaves, this declaration symbolizes the change of the purpose of the northerners' war: reorganizing the Federation is no longer the only purpose of the war. This represents an important stage in the abolition of federal slavery.

In addition, some slaves were declared to be released immediately. These slaves who escaped from the federal border and were called "war contraband" by the federal army were taken to the smuggling control camp; When the declaration came into effect, they were told at midnight that they were free to leave. In addition, the coastal islands of Georgia were occupied by the federal navy during the war, so many local whites fled back to the American continent, leaving black slaves to live here. The admiral read the declaration in front of them and told them that they were free.

The military reacted differently to this statement. Some units almost launched a military protest, while others deserted collectively because they heard this declaration; On the other hand, other units hope that the ideal can be made more lofty through legislation, so at least one unit has adopted such a motto: "For the Federation and Freedom".

For the Confederacy, the problem of slaves was part of the "engine of war": these slaves were responsible for producing and storing food, repairing railways, working in farmland and workshops, transporting ships, digging mines, building fortifications, doing nursing work and general labor. In order to arouse the dissatisfaction of slaves in the Confederacy, millions of copies of the Emancipation Declaration were circulated in the Confederacy territory occupied by the Federation. And as expected, the news spread rapidly through word of mouth, igniting people's hope for freedom, causing public confusion and encouraging many black slaves to get up and run away.

international

Overseas, as Lincoln expected, this declaration turned his people to support the federal government's commitment to end slavery. This change shattered the hope that the Confederate government would be officially recognized by other countries, especially Britain. As henry adams said, "The Emancipation Declaration has done more than our previous victories and diplomatic strategies."

After the civil war

At the end of the war, the abolitionists in the United States and the Party concluded that once the war was over, The Emancipation Proclamation might be interpreted as an unconstitutional wartime order, so they tried their best to protect the freedom of all slaves, not just the liberation granted by the declaration. Under this pressure, Lincoln gambled on his presidential election in 1864 that he would abolish national slavery through constitutional amendment. Lincoln's campaign was supported by split votes in Maryland and Missouri; Maryland's new charter came into effect on June 1864+065438+ 10/day, abolishing slavery. After winning re-election, Lincoln strongly urged the lame duck's 38th Congress to immediately gather in the 39th Congress to pass the constitutional amendment. 1865 65438+1October 3 1 day, Congress informed state legislators to approve the bill that will become the 13 amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits any slavery on American soil. 1865 65438+On February 6th, the amendment was recognized by enough states. As an enforceable law, Kentucky is the only place in the United States that does not liberate slaves by other means than amendment.

homestead law

homestead law

1862 us president Lincoln issued a decree aimed at distributing state-owned land in the western United States to immigrants without compensation.

After the independence of the United States, the federal government nationalized the western land and decided to sell it in batches to increase government revenue, repay the national debt and meet the requirements of land speculators. However, the land sold has a large unit area and high price, which western immigrants can't afford, so they launched a long-term struggle for free land distribution. Due to the obstruction of slave owners in the south, until the civil war, the bill of granting free land to immigrants was rejected by the Senate.

After the political representatives of the southern slave owners withdrew from Congress, the Lincoln administration was able to realize the homestead law proposed by the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the homestead law on February 28th and May 6th, respectively, 1862. Lincoln promulgated this law on May 20th.

According to the Homestead Law, any American citizen who is the head of the family or has reached the age of 265,438+0 and has never participated in the rebellion can register and receive a total of no more than 65,438+060 acres (65,438+0 acres = 0.40 hectares) after swearing that the land was acquired for reclamation purposes and paying a fee of $65,438+00. The Homestead Law also stipulates a discount clause, that is, if the registered person applies for priority purchase, he can buy it at the price of $65,438 +0.25 per acre after six months. This clause was later used by land speculators. According to statistics, according to the Homestead Law and its supplementary laws, the federal government granted 250 million acres of land to immigrants with 1950.

The Homestead Act satisfies the land requirements of farmers in the west to a certain extent, and establishes the ownership of small-scale farmers' land, thus creating favorable conditions for the development of American agricultural capitalism. Its implementation also stimulated the struggle of western farmers against southern slave owners and curbed the expansion of slave plantations to the west. During the civil war, farmers in the west contributed more than half of the troops to the Federal Republic and provided sufficient food, which played an important role in the victory of the Northern War.