Causes Of The Emancipation Proclamation

All three primary documents discussed about slavery, emancipation proclamation, union and the new society that founding fathers promised to create in the beginning. Samuel Cox was a congressman from Ohio who knew slavery was evil but thought having the emancipation proclamation would not unite the country. He believed that this proclamation would divide the country more, disturb the economy and cause trouble for lower class white workers at war. On the hand, Hannah Johnson, who was a free slave and a mother of a colored soldier in the union army had other ideas about the proclamation and the prisoners. She believed that the emancipation proclamation is the right thing to do and President Lincoln should stand with it. She also believed that
white and colored prisoners should be treated the same and all this change the country was going through was for the better. Lastly President Lincolns most famous speech talked new birth of free the country and talked about the sacrifices Union soldiers made and this should not go unnoticed. Samuel Cox was a congressman who represented Ohio and New York delivered a speech to congress to condemn emancipation proclamation for many reasons he believed would put the union in a worse situation than the civil war. Slavery was a big controversy during civil war and the Lincoln administration slowly trying to end slavery for better. Democrats expressed their opposition to this controversy because they believed that it would disturb the nation. Some of their arguments were demonstrated through a speech made by Samuel Cox condemning emancipation. He expressed his concerns about the war and how the spirit of people is down because he believed that “Ohio troops will fight successfully or fight at all, if the result shall be the flight and movement of the colored race by millions northward to their own State?” Samuel Cox knew that slavery was evil and wrong to have men work for no money but he believed that free them would make the situation much worse. They were worried about free colored men being equal as the white men. He defined equality as “Equality is a condition which is self-protective, wanting nothing, asking nothing, able to take care of itself.” (Cox) He also believed that it was absurd to say that two races of different origin, of unequal capacity, can both succeed in the same society when placed in competition. At the end, he believed that it would lower wages, disturb the economy and create prejudice during war about things that many white men in the north would not like. For example, being in the same school, house, church or colored man should not sit next to white man in any environment, However, Hannah Johnson wrote a letter to President Lincoln to about the change that was happening during the war for the better.
She believed that a man should be able to collect the fruit for his labor. She believed that these changes were better for the future of the country unlike Samuel Cox. In the letter, she talked about herself, her son in the army and the conditions of colored troops as a prisoner. In the letter, she stated that colored men who were captured as prisoners were being turned into slaves and she suggested “colored men they have lived in idleness all their lives on stolen labor and made savages of the colored people … You must put the rebels to work in State prisons to making shoes and things, if they sell our colored soldiers, till they let them all go.” (Johnson) Next thing she addressed in her letter was the emancipation proclamation. She believed that the president should push forward and this would get him to heaven with all the angels singing and praising him. Lastly she talked about the colored being treated fairly because of war and their bravery and the she stated “stop this, mean cowardly cruelty. We poor oppressed ones, appeal to you, and ask fair play.” (Johnson) She asked for sympathy at the
end. Lastly, the most famous and the greatest speech was addressed by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of military cemetery after a great battle.
Abraham Lincoln displayed his brilliance in three minutes and using fewer than 270 words. He started his speech with a proposition that “all men are created equal” which this country was built on. He talked about the war and the sacrifices both white and colored people have made to create a country that founding father first created to be a new nation, originated in liberty and dedicated to the proposition. During his speech, he talked about the final resting place of many who dedicated their lives for a better nation. And his famous saying was “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” (Lincoln) Last thing he addressed in his short speech was that the nation should focus on the task to finish the test and honor the one who died by making sure that they did not die in vain. Major thing to focus on this speech was that he did not say word “union instead he said nation five times in his
speech. Samuel Cox and Abraham Lincoln presented their argument over a speech while Hannah Johnson wrote a letter to the president. They all believed that this was the best way to deliver their point across. However, Abraham Lincoln made his point clear in the best way possible because he was short and precise to the point. In their speech, they used many kinds of arguments and facts to get to prove their point but they used it in a right context. Samuel Cox’s ultimate goal was to stop emancipation proclamation. However, Hannah Johnson wanted President Lincoln to keep pushing and have white men prisoners work for unpaid labor until colored men are freed. Abraham Lincoln’s goal was to revive the troops and rejuvenate their spirit to keep pushing to win the war. In conclusion, Samuel Cox delivered a speech to stop the proclamation, while Hannah Johnson wanted the President to keep pushing the proclamation and wanted the white prisoners to work to help with the war. Lastly Abraham Lincoln delivered an astounding speech to rejuvenate the troops. Ultimately, Abraham Lincoln and Hannah Johnson had the same goal, which was to end slavery. However, Samuel Cox believed that ending slavery would ultimately put the country in worse condition.