A Grand Celebration Of The Emancipation Of Slaves

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/10/2013

One page written letter, 5" x 8", Philadelphia, Pa., December 27, 1862, fine. A superb letter written to a Mr. Nickelson, Esq., pertaining to speaking at a celebration of Emancipation for Slaves in the Confederate States. Reads in part: "Mr. Nickelson, Esq. Dear Sir, You are most respectfully invited to participate in a grand Celebration of the Emancipation of Slaves in the Rebel Starts, to be held at the Weseegan Methodist Church, Lombard St. below sixth on next Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock. An address will be looked for from you if at all convenient. We remain most Respectfully, Yours". The letter is signed by five men representing the committee putting on the celebration. At the bottom of the letter is states "Direct answer to 606 Pine St. Rev. John A. Williams".On the verso of the letter it reads "Rev. John A. Williams December 29, 1862 Emancipation January 1st, 1863, I agree to go no answer requested". It seems Nickelson requested on December 29th that Rev. Williams speak at the celebration on January 1, 1863, which he accepted. A rare slave related document pertaining to the single most important Amendment to our Constitution. The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued to the executive agencies of the United States by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. It was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces; it was not a law passed by Congress. It proclaimed all slaves in Confederate territory to be forever free; that is, it ordered the Army to treat as free men the slaves in ten states that were still in rebellion, thus applying to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. The Proclamation immediately resulted in the freeing of 50,000 slaves, with nearly all the rest (of the 3.1 million) actively freed as Union armies advanced. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not itself outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves (called freedmen) citizens. It made the destruction of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation that he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. None returned, and the order, signed and issued January 1, 1863, took effect except in locations where the Union had already mostly regained control. The Proclamation made abolition a central goal of the war (in addition to the original, officially-stated goal of maintaining the Union), outraged white Southerners who envisioned a race war, angered some Northern Democrats, energized anti-slavery forces, and weakened forces in Europe that wanted to intervene to help the Confederacy. Slavery was made illegal everywhere in the U.S. by the Thirteenth Amendment, which took effect in December 1865. We have placed what we feel is a conservative estimate on this most unique piece.

Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).