[Emancipation Proclamation, State of the Union Address] Message of the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress at the Commencement of the Third Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress

Lincoln, Abraham

Published by Government Printing Office, Washington, 1862

About this Item

Octavo. 910 pp. First edition. As issued, in publisher's embossed cloth; spine titled, "Messages / and / Diplomatic / Correspondence. / 1862 / Ho. Reps." Binding is a trifle sunned at the spine, but generally, it presents quite nicely; early and occasional tidelines; occasional scattered foxing. This contains Lincoln's second "State of the Union," though at that time, it was a printed message, rather than an address. In this message Lincoln tangles with the year and a half old civil war and his struggle to preserve the Union while wrestling with the central impasse of the rebellion, slavery. A remarkable address that contains at the conclusion one of his memorable lines, "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country" (p. 23). Of profound importance and one of Lincoln's boldest moves to "rise with the occasion," this volume contains the 22 September 1862 preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the final version would be issued and enforced a month after Lincoln's message. The idea of an executive action that would free the slaves in states that were in open rebellion with the Union came in the summer of 1862. An early version of the proclamation was read by Lincoln to his cabinet in July 1862. On the advice of Secretary of State William Seward, this penultimate version of the proclamation was thought to be more effective if issued after a significant Union victory?that victory turned out to be at Antietam. The Emancipation Proclamation is among the most important documents in United States history and this preliminary version offers a glimpse into Lincoln's steps towards the abolition of slavery in service of the preservation of the Union.

Seller Inventory # 10466

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Emancipation Proclamation, State of the Union Address] Message of the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress at the Commencement of the Third Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress
• Publisher: Government Printing Office, Washington
• Publication Date: 1862
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good binding
• Seller catalogs:
  • History--U.S.
  • African-American
  • Americana