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The Preliminary EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION Educator’S Guide NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM

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The Preliminary EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION Educator’S Guide NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM THE FIRST STEP TO FREEDOM The Preliminary EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION Educator’s Guide NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM ABOUT THIS GUIDE The educational materials in this guide were By exploring the draft document and the historical developed around President Abraham Lincoln’s context in which it was written, students will Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, develop a better understanding of how ideas and a draft of which is in the collections of the New documents can evolve. Students will hone skills York State Library in Albany, New York. necessary to interpret historical texts and primary sources to learn how events long past continue to This guide includes several activities, from which shape our country and world today. teachers can choose those that best suit their students and classroom needs. All can be done as individual, group, or full-class exercises. In each of these activities, students will be asked to consider the guiding question, This curriculum is aligned with the New York State “Did the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation P–12 Learning Standards pave the way for equal rights for all Americans?” for grades 7 – 8 BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS President Abraham Lincoln issued two emancipation The document owned by the New York State proclamations—a Preliminary Emancipation Library is a draft of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, and a final Proclamation written in Lincoln’s own hand, with Emancipation Proclamation 100 days later. In the sections of the Congressional Confiscation Act pasted first document, Lincoln declared that all slaves within into the document. Secretary of State (and former rebel territory would be “forever” free on January 1, NYS Governor and Senator) William Seward added 1863, unless the Confederate states returned to the penciled edits when Lincoln read the document to his Union. Lincoln followed through with his promise, cabinet on September 22, 1862. and on New Year’s Day 1863 he signed the final Emancipation Proclamation. WARM UP WHO DID THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION FREE? In this warm-up exercise, consider the question, “Who did the American Revolution free?” Consider this question with students and lead a discussion about the conflict of slavery and freedom in the creation of America in the late 1700s. This discussion will remind or clarify for students that by the time Abraham Lincoln made the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, the United States had struggled with the contradictions of slavery and freedom for a century. The Revolution, while it established American independence from the British Empire, did not extend equal rights to all people, women and men, rich and poor, black and white—this, in spite of the Declaration of Independence’s famous language: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The First Step to Freedom – The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation | Educator’s Guide 1 1 ACTIVITY 1 ESTABLISHING CONTEXT – A TIMELINE OF THE ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICANS IN THE UNITED STATES To understand the context and impact of the Depending on time constraints and your students, Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, students there are two ways teachers can conduct this will review historical events related to the activity. If time is short, provide the dates and brief enslavement of Africans and place events related to write-ups of the events below. If you have time slavery in the United States on a timeline. Instruct or want to provide additional challenge for your students to place acts that promote slavery below class, students can research the events using their the timeline or in red and place acts that challenge textbook, notes, and the internet to find the date slavery above the line or in blue. and write their own brief descriptions. 1. First enslaved Africans arrive in New Netherland (1625) 15. Supreme Court upholds the Fugitive Slave Act of 2. The British take control of New Netherland (and 1793 (1842) rename it New York), changing slavery laws (1664) 16. Seneca Falls Convention (1848) 3. Quakers begin abolitionist movement (1666) 17. Compromise of 1850 4. American Revolutionary War begins (1775) 18. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 5. Vermont abolishes slavery (1777) 19. The Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854) 6. U.S. Constitution includes the Fugitive Slave Clause and 20. Dred Scott Decision (1857) 3/5ths Compromise (1789) 21. Harper’s Ferry Raid (1859) 7. Naturalization forbidden for anyone who is not a free 22. American Civil War begins (1861) white (1790) 23. Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (1862) 8. Military service by African Americans prohibited (1792) 24. Emancipation Proclamation (1863) 9. Fugitive Slave Act (1793) 25. American Civil War ends (1865) 10. New York passes the Gradual Emancipation Act (1799) 26. West Virginia abolishes slavery prior to the 13th 11. Federal act prohibiting importation of slaves (1808) Amendment (1865) 12. Missouri Compromise (1820) 27. Passage of the 13th Amendment (1865) 13. Last slaves in New York are freed (1827) 28. Passage of the 14th Amendment (1868) 14. Underground Railroad (1830s–1860s most active) 29. Passage of the 15th Amendment (1870) The First Step to Freedom – The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation | Educator’s Guide 2 2 ACTIVITY 2 WHAT CHALLENGES DID PRESIDENT LINCOLN FACE? The purpose of this activity is to help students Students will be split into five groups. Each group will understand the challenges President Lincoln faced receive information for one theme, outlined below, when he issued the Preliminary Emancipation and must determine the implications of each for Proclamation in September 1862. The guiding Lincoln and the Union. The groups will then report out question for this activity is, their analyses. Evidence resources are located at the end of this document. “What conditions did President Lincoln face when he issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation?” 1. Rebellion: The Southern States Secede from the Union 4. Morale: The Spirit of a Nation Southern states—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, By the time the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North issued, the Civil War had been raging for almost two years with Carolina, and Tennessee—secede from the Union and form the little to no progress. In the meantime, Confederate States of America (CSA). • the U.S. issued new taxes and loans to pay for war • Secession was declared by pro-Confederate • war profiteering led to some subpar equipment, weapons, governments in Missouri (October 28, 1861) and and uniforms Kentucky (December 10, 1861). • freedom of speech was suspended as Northerners who • New Mexico was temporarily taken by the CSA in supported the CSA or tried to hamper the U.S. war effort early 1862. were sent to prison 2. String of Losses: Battles, Soldiers, Equipment 5. Limited Resources: Manpower Shortages in the Union Army By the time the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation was As the war pressed on, the Union’s resources were strained, issued, the CSA had won 25 significant battles to the USA’s 21 and the Army needed more soldiers. To make up the losses, the victories. In the fighting, the Union suffered Union • Over 108,461 casualties from battle • offered men payments to enlist in the Army • An unknown number of losses from disease • instituted a draft in 1863 • Equipment destroyed in battle • opened enlistment to African American men in 1863 • Equipment captured by the South • actively recruited new immigrants 3. Politics at Home and Abroad State and midterm congressional elections were held in 1862—in the middle of President Lincoln’s first term and during the war— and foreign powers had their own ideas about the American Civil War. • Support for Lincoln in Congress and at the state level was at stake. • European powers (France and England, who had outlawed slavery in their own countries) wanted U.S. cotton, to gain more influence in Western Hemisphere, and a weaker United States. The First Step to Freedom – The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation | Educator’s Guide 3 3 ACTIVITY 3 EXPLORING THE PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AS AN ARTIFACT A draft of Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Each page is downloadable separately. NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY In this activity, students will examine the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation as an artifact unto itself. They do not need to focus on the message of the document for this activity; rather, they will review the image to see what else they can learn about the document’s creation and evolution. To start the conversation, initiate a Visual Thinking Strategy Students should notice that sentences and words are crossed (VTS) discussion with the following questions: out, text is added, sections are pasted in from other sources, and Abraham Lincoln’s signature. • What is going on in this image? (This encourages students to identify and articulate their observations.) This dialogue will build familiarity with the Preliminary • What do you see that makes you think that? (This stimulates Emancipation Proclamation. It will also show students how analytic skills and self-awareness.) a document can tell us more than just what the words on the paper say and shed light on the writing and editorial • What more can we find? (This empowers students to probe process Abraham Lincoln went through to create the final
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