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1. What is this passage mostly about? “The Great Emancipator.” 2….
1. What is this passage mostly about? “The Great Emancipator.”
2. Why were white Americans “outraged” by the Emancipation Proclamation? What examples does the author use to support the idea that people were outraged?
3. Why did some people believe the Emancipation Proclamation was “too little, too late”?
4. What words does the author use to describe Lincoln’s actions? What does the author’s descriptive language reveal about the author’s point of view?
5. What is the author’s point of view on the idea that the Emancipation Proclamation was “too little, too late”? How does the author support his point of view?
6. What does the author mean by the statement: “Unquestionably, the slaves themselves had to accomplish with their feet what Lincoln had begun with his pen”? What is the author’s purpose for including this statement?
7. What inferences can you make about the problem of slavery from Lincoln’s statement that “the harpoon is in the monster”? What details in the text support your inferences?
8. What does the author mean in paragraph 6 when he states that if Lincoln were alive today, he would “admit that the work of ending slavery still remains unfinished”? How does this connect to the author’s overall argument in the text?
9. Does the author provide enough evidence in the text to support his claim in paragraph 7 that Lincoln deserves the title “Great Emancipator”? Why or why not? Use details from the text to support your answer.
10. After reading “The Great Emancipator,” an essay explaining why the Emancipation Proclamation was a controversial act.
Article:
1 Nothing Abraham Lincoln ever did as president aroused so much celebrationand so much angeras the Emancipation Proclamation. Even now, it remains one of the least understood and most controversial acts in US history.
2 When it was issued in 1863, many white Americans were outraged, complaining bitterly that it changed the goal of the Civil War from saving the union to freeing the slavesa mission many people could not accept. However, some complaints today about the proclamation come not from whites but from African Americans, who contend that it accomplished nothing. They argue that the slaves freed themselves by fleeing from plantations on their own.
3 Lincoln’s Proclamation was a moral landmark. it also was a political stroke of Genius that begin the long-overdue process of crushing slavery.
4 To some, it may seem to have offered too little, too late, as it was not issued until the war was nearly two years old and at first it freed slaves only in states over which Lincoln had no control. But Lincoln knew he could not issue his revolutionary document until a majority of white Northerners were prepared to accept it and until he was sure it would not drive still-loyal slave states like Maryland into the Confederacy. As for limiting its reach, Lincoln had no legal authority to free slaves in Union states. Instead, the order was based on the commander-in-chief’s power to seize the property of those in rebellion. Unquestionably, the slaves themselves had to accomplish with their feet what Lincoln had begun with his pin.
5 Newspapers and politicians the world over attacked Lincoln for daring to free the slaves. more Union soldiers than ever begin deserting because of the proclamation. many times in the months to come, advisors urge Lincoln to cancel his Proclamation, but he steadily fast refused.
6 Lincoln knew that his order had only begun the work of ending slavery. ” the Harpoon is in the monster,” he said. now the monster had to be destroyed. To do this, Lincoln encouraged the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, outlawing slavery everywhere. Despite its passage, if Lincoln were alive today, he would likely be the first to admit that the work of ending slavery Still Remains unfinished.
7 Unfortunately, it has become fashionable to question Lincoln’s commitment to the destruction of slavery. In reality, Lincoln truly deserved the title that a great American bestowed on him in 1863: “Great Emancipator.”
Image transcription text
PROCLAMATION 1861 OF 1863 EMANCIPATION Bu the President of the United States of America.
Whereus, In the Twenty-Second day of September, in the year of our Sford cue thousand eight hundred and
risty-twe, a Proclamation was issued by the President of the Waited States, containing, among othe…
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Abraham Lincoln signed the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing the slaves in all states of the Confederacy.
