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720 even so late as 13 Sept. he said to a delegation of a religious society, who were urging immediate ac- tion : " I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inopera- tive, like the pope's bull against the comet. ... 1 view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the advantages or disad- vantages it may offer to the suppression of the re- bellion." Still, he assured them that he had not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but that the matter occupied his deepest thoughts. The retreat of Lee from Maryland af- ter his defeat at Antietam seemed to the president to afford a proper occasion for the execution of his long-matured re- solve, and on 22 Sept. he issued his preliminary proc- lamation, giv- ing notice to the states in rebel- lion that, on 1 Jan., 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state or designat- ed part of a state, the people where- of should then be in rebellion against the Unit- ed States, should be then, thence- forward, and for- ever free. When congress came to- gether on 1 Dec. he urged them to supplement what had already been done by constitutional action, concluding his mes-: sage with this impassioned appeal : " Fellow-citi- zens, we cannot escape history. We of this congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or in- significance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We — even we here — hold the power and bear the re- sponsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we as- sure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of earth. Other means may succeed ; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." It was hardly to be expected, however, that any action would be taken by con- gress before the lapse of the hundred days that the president had left between his warning and its execution. On 1 Jan., 1863, the final proclamation of emancipation was issued. It recited the pre- liminary document, and then designated the states in rebellion against the United States. They were Arkansas, Texas, a part of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, excepting certain counties. The proclamation then continued : "I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states and parts of states are, and henceforward shall be, free ; and that the execu- tive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said per- sons." The criticisms and forebodings of the op- ponents of emancipation had well-nigh been ex- hausted during the previous three months, and Hie definitive proclamation was received with general enthusiasm throughout the loyal states. The dis- satisfaction with which this important measure. was regarded in the border states gradually died away, as did also the opposition in conservative quarters to the enlistment of negro soldiers. Their good conduct, their quick submission to discipline, and their excellent behavior in several battles, rap- idly made an end of the prejudice against them ; and when, in the winter session of congress of 1863-'4, Mr. Lincoln again urged upon the atten- tion of that body the passage of a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, his proposition met with the concurrence of a majority of con- gress, though it failed of the necessary two-third vote in the house of representatives. During the following year, however, public opinion made rapid progress, and the influence of the president with congress was largely increased after his tri- umphant re-election. In his annual message of 6 Dec, 1864, he once more pleaded, this time with irresistible force, in favor of constitutional emanci- pation in all the states. As there had been much controversy during the year in regard to the presi- dent's anti-slavery convictions, and the suggestion had been made in many quarters that, for the sake of peace, he might be induced to withdraw the proclamation, he repeated the declaration made the year before : " While 1 remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proclamation ; nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of con- gress. If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instrument to perform it." This time congress acted with alacrity, and on 31 Jan., 1865, proposed to the states the 13th amendment to the constitu- tion, providing that neither slavery nor involun- tary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. The states rapidly adopted the amendment by the action of their legislatures, and the president was especially pleased that his own state of Illinois led the van, having passed the necessary resolution within twenty-four hours. Before the year ended twenty- seven of the thirty-six states (being the necessary three fourths) had ratified the amendment, and President Johnson, on 18 Dec, 1865, officially pro- claimed its adoption.

While the energies of the government and of the people were most strenuously occupied with the war and the questions immediately concerning it, the four years of Mr. Lincoln's administration had their full share of complicated and difficult questions of domestic and foreign concern. The interior and post-office departments made great progress in de- veloping the means of communication throughout the country. Mr. Chase, as secretary Of the treasury, performed, with prodigious ability and remarkable success, the enormous duties devolving upon him of providing funds to supply the army at an ex- pense amounting at certain periods to $3,000,000 a day; and Mr. Seward, in charge of the state de- partment, held at bay the suppressed hostility of European nations. Of all his cabinet, the presi-