The Emancipation Proclamation, Constitutional Amendments, and the Lincoln Assassination Plot

Constitutional Authority, Slavery, and the Emancipation Proclamation

• Executive Scope and Constitutional Limits:

  • The President of the United States acts as Commander-in-Chief when issuing military actions such as the Emancipation Proclamation, without requiring congressional approval.
  • The Emancipation Proclamation applies strictly and exclusively to areas actively in rebellion against the United States, where the U.S. Constitution has been suspended.
  • In regions not actively in rebellion, the U.S. Constitution remains in full effect.
  • Where the Constitution is active, slavery remains legally protected, the Fugitive Slave Act remains enforced, and the Dred Scott decision remains legally binding.
  • The President lacks any constitutional authority to violate the Constitution or free enslaved individuals in regions that are not in active rebellion.

• Specific Geographic Exclusions:

  • The Emancipation Proclamation freed zero enslaved people in border states not in rebellion, including Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware.
  • The Proclamation did not apply to regions brought back under federal military control. For example, despite the U.S. Federal Army holding control over New Orleans, not a single person was freed in New Orleans because the city was no longer classified as being in rebellion.

• Long-Term Vulnerability of Emancipation:

  • The Emancipation Proclamation served as a revolutionary military measure that initiated the end of slavery, yet it left the institution legally unsecure.
  • Because slavery remained legal in states not in rebellion, the end of the Civil War meant slavery could legally continue in those jurisdictions.
  • If defeated Southern states re-entered the Union and were no longer classified as being in rebellion, constitutional protections for slavery would automatically resume, enabling the institution to re-establish itself.
  • The only permanent mechanism to extinguish slavery across the entire nation was altering the governing document via a constitutional amendment.

Civics and the Mechanisms for Constitutional Change

• Presidential Role in Amending the Constitution:

  • The President of the United States plays no direct formal role in amending or changing the U.S. Constitution.

• The Two Constitutional Pathways for Change:

  • Constitutional Convention Pathway:
  • Article V allows states to call a Constitutional Convention if $75\%$ of states apply (requiring $\mathbf{34}$ states out of 50 today).
  • This method has only been used once in U.S. history: in $1787$, when delegates met, discarded the Articles of Confederation, and authored the U.S. Constitution.
  • It has never been utilized since $1787$ for two primary reasons:
    1. Achieving formal consensus across such a large threshold of states is exceptionally difficult.
    2. A convention creates profound legal uncertainty; delegates possess unlimited authority to raise any issue, discard the current Constitution, and entirely rewrite the structure of government.
  • Modern calls for a convention exist, with over $\mathbf{200}$ organizations actively opposing such measures due to political risks.
  • Formal Congressional Amendment Pathway:
  • Begins with a proposal passing both the House of Representatives and the Senate by a $\mathbf{2/3}$ supermajority vote ($\approx 66.7\%$).
  • Requires subsequent ratification by $\mathbf{75\%}$ of the states ($\mathbf{38}$ out of 50 states).

• Historical Precedents of Constitutional Amendments:

  • $27\text{th}$ Amendment: Prohibits members of Congress from granting themselves immediate pay increases (non-controversial measure).
  • $25\text{th}$ Amendment: Ratified in the $1960\text{s}$ following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to establish a clear presidential line of succession if a sitting president becomes incapacitated or brain-dead while alive, ensuring continuous executive leadership.
  • $26\text{th}$ Amendment: Ratified during the $1970\text{s}$ in response to young military personnel deployed $10{,}000\,\text{miles}$ away to fight in the Vietnam War without voting rights; lowered the federal voting age from $\mathbf{21}$ to $\mathbf{18}$ years of age.

Political Obstacles and Context of 1863

• Political Composition of Congress in $1863$:

  • Southern representatives had vacated their seats upon secession, leaving Northern members in Congress.
  • Northern Democrats remaining in Congress strongly opposed the abolition of slavery and refused to vote for its termination.
  • Conservative Republicans expressed anxiety regarding the long-term societal impacts of immediate emancipation, fearing that freeing approximately $\mathbf{4{,}000{,}000}$ enslaved people would lead to direct demands for racial equality, an outcome conservative Republicans actively opposed.

• Lincoln's Strategy:

  • Abraham Lincoln, drawing on his legal background and constitutional training, recognized that passing the Thirteenth Amendment required building a broad political consensus across a hostile political landscape.
  • Lincoln utilized public addresses—most notably the Gettysburg Address—to reframe the Civil War's ultimate purpose and persuade both Congress and the electorate.

The Battle of Gettysburg and the Gettysburg Address

• Military Context of Summer $1863$:

  • The Confederacy faced severe desperation due to the U.S. Naval Blockade, causing critical shortages of food, military equipment, and supplies.
  • General Robert E. Lee launched an invasion of the North, targeting Pennsylvania, with plans to capture and burn Philadelphia before turning south to seize Washington, D.C.
  • Lee's strategic objective was to force the U.S. Federal Government to evacuate Washington, D.C., thereby breaking Northern resolve and winning Confederate independence.

• The Lost Orders Incident (Military Contingency):

  • General Lee's invasion plan failed due to accidental intelligence loss.
  • A Southern military officer wrapped secret operational war plans around his cigars to keep them dry and placed them in his pocket.
  • The cigars and wrapped plans fell out of the officer's pocket and were discovered on the ground by U.S. Union soldiers out hunting for Confederate troop movements.
  • Union forces delivered the retrieved plans directly to commanders, completely revealing Confederate troop positions and operational strategies.
  • U.S. Federal forces intersected converging Confederate troops at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

• Historical Parallel on Military Mistakes:

  • Military history contains frequent critical errors (e.g., miscalculating time zones during the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba).
  • During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the $1960\text{s}$, a U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane pilot became disoriented and accidentally flew deep into Soviet Union airspace at the height of nuclear tensions, prompting President Kennedy to remark: "Some people just never get the memo."

• Outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg:

  • A three-day titanic battle resulted in a decisive U.S. Union victory.
  • Stood as the bloodiest three-day engagement of the American Civil War and marked the definitive beginning of the end for the Confederacy.

• The Gettysburg Address Deconstruction (Consecration in September $1863$):

  • Context: Lincoln traveled from Washington, D.C. to Gettysburg to consecrate a new federal graveyard dedicated to the casualties of the battle (modeled similarly to Jefferson Barracks).
  • "Four score and seven years ago" ($\mathbf{87}$ years prior, referencing $1776$): Anchors the U.S. founding to the Declaration of Independence rather than the governance framework of the Constitution.
  • Founding Ideals: Asserts that the core American promise is rooted in liberty and the proposition that "all men are created equal," guaranteeing equal rights and equal opportunity.
  • Global Significance of Democracy: Addresses European skepticism regarding republican self-governance; asserts the Civil War is a global test to prove whether a democratic republic can endure or if popular government will perish globally.
  • Consecration by Sacrifice: Declares that the living cannot formally hallow the battlefield because the fallen soldiers, living and dead, already consecrated it through their blood.
  • Direct Challenge to Peace Democrats: Framed the war's continuation as a moral obligation, explicitly rejecting Peace Democrats calling for a negotiated settlement, asserting that stopping short would cause the dead to have died in vain.
  • "New Birth of Freedom": Transformed the war from a conflict merely to restore the original Union into a revolutionary effort to extinguish slavery entirely.

Military Escalation and the Push for the Thirteenth Amendment

• Overland and Western Campaigns:

  • Lincoln appointed General Ulysses S. Grant to overall command in Virginia.
  • Grant engaged Lee continuously in daily, high-casualty battles without disengaging, earning the moniker "Butcher Grant" from critics while relentlessly wearing down Southern forces.
  • General William Tecumseh Sherman advanced from Nashville, Tennessee, captured Atlanta, Georgia, severed his own logistics lines, and conducted a march to Savannah, destroying all economic infrastructure along the path.

• Timing of the Thirteenth Amendment:

  • Lincoln forcefully pushed Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment in early $1865$ prior to the war's official conclusion.
  • Reasoning: Once Southern states were militarily defeated and brought back into the Union, they would easily block ratification, as achieving a $\mathbf{75\%}$ consensus among all states would become impossible. The amendment had to pass while Southern states were excluded from Congress.

Provisions and Scope of the Thirteenth Amendment

• Congressional Passage and Ratification:

  • Passed both houses of Congress by a $\mathbf{2/3}$ vote in $1865$ during active wartime.
  • Ratified by $\mathbf{75\%}$ ($\mathbf{3/8}$) of the states active in the Union, permanently abolishing slavery.

• Key Legal Clauses:

  1. Abolition of Slavery: Declares chattel slavery unconstitutional within the United States and all territories under its jurisdiction.
  2. Ban on Indentured Servitude: Explicitly prohibits indentured servitude.
  • Historical Context: Indentured servitude traditionally involved a formal contract requiring unpaid labor for a fixed term (typically $\mathbf{7}$ years) to repay debts or passage costs.
  • Legal Loophole Closure: Northern border regions (such as Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana) used indentured servitude contracts as a legal loophole to maintain de facto slavery under a different legal name. The Amendment explicitly banned the practice to prevent Southern states from resurrecting slavery under legal disguises.

Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination Conspiracy

• Background of Confederate Operations:

  • Secret Confederate agents stationed in Canada sponsored state-level terrorism within the North to undermine Northern public support for the war.
  • Attempted arson attacks were launched against multiple hotels across New York City in an effort to burn the city down.
  • Early plots targeted Lincoln for kidnapping, including a sniper attack during Lincoln's transit to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

• The Plot to Decapitate the Executive Branch:

  • By $1865$, as Richmond fell and General Sherman advanced through South Carolina into North Carolina, actor John Wilkes Booth (a virulent racist and pro-Confederate operative) converted the kidnapping scheme into an assassination plot.
  • Objective: Simultaneously assassinate key executive officers to trigger national chaos, dismantle government operations, and allow remaining Confederate military forces to regroup.

• Key Targets in the Line of Succession:

  • Preserving Chaos: Simply killing the President would not decapitate the government, as constitutional presidential succession immediately elevates the Vice President without causing a functional collapse.
  • Target 1: President Abraham Lincoln.
  • Target 2: The Vice President of the United States.
  • Target 3: Secretary of State William Seward.
  • Role of Secretary of State: Senior cabinet official responsible for U.S. foreign affairs and international relations (modern equivalent: Marco Rubio). Seward was Lincoln's closest friend and chief foreign policy advisor.

• Operational Planning:

  • The conspirators held secret meetings at a boarding house/inn managed by the mother of one of the conspirators in Washington, D.C.
  • Booth utilized his national fame as a prominent Broadway actor to monitor Lincoln's public schedules and access high-security areas.

Strategic Execution and Aftermath of the Assassination Attempt

• Execution of the Attack on Lincoln:

  • Lincoln regularly attended theatrical performances to alleviate chronic depression and anxiety (referred to historically as melancholy).
  • Booth accessed the Presidential Suite at Ford's Theatre by utilizing his celebrity status to bypass guards.
  • Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head at point-blank range; the bullet traversed the brain and lodged behind the eye, causing immediate brain death.
  • Booth shouted "Death to tyrants" in Latin (Sic semper tyrannis) to the audience, jumped from the presidential box to the stage, and escaped on horseback.

• Execution Failure at the Vice President's Hotel:

  • The conspirator assigned to assassinate the Vice President waited in the lobby of the Vice President's hotel checking his timepiece.
  • The assassin lost his nerve ("chickened out") and fled the scene without launching an attack.

• The Attack on Secretary of State William Seward:

  • Seward was bedridden at home recovering from a severe carriage accident occurring weeks prior that left him with broken bones, a collapsed lung, and a fractured jaw held together by a metal splint/truss.
  • The assigned assassin gained entry by claiming to deliver prescribed drugstore opioid painkillers.
  • Seward's son confronted the assassin at the front door, arguing that delivery drivers are not permitted upstairs (comparing the demand to an Amazon delivery driver insisting on entering a private bedroom).
  • The assassin forced his way upstairs, drew a knife, and repeatedly stabbed Seward in his bed, slashing his neck.
  • Seward survived the knife attack because the metal jaw splint/truss fitted from his previous carriage accident deflected the blade, preventing the complete severance of his jugular vein.

• Aftermath:

  • U.S. federal authorities initiated a massive manhunt, tracking down and capturing the conspirators involved in the plot.