The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet

Despite his abolitionist leanings, Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) entered the presidency pledging not to interfere with slavery in those states where it existed. To avoid alienating slaveholding border states that remained loyal to the Union, he steadfastly resisted vocal prodding from abolitionists who urged him to make the dismantling of slavery a goal of the Civil War. But by the summer of 1862, Lincoln recognized the emancipation of those enslaved within Confederate-held territory as both a military and a moral necessity.

In September 1862, Lincoln announced that the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all enslaved persons free in regions of the South still in rebellion, would take effect on January 1, 1863. Printmakers capitalized on the positive public response to Lincoln’s order by issuing scores of commemorative prints. This lithograph, based on a painting in the U.S. Capitol, recreates the cabinet meeting at which Lincoln read the first draft of his proclamation.