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Announcer:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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By the summer of eighteen-sixty-two, the American Civil war hadbeen going on for more than a year. The Union had won some battles.The Confederacy had won others. But neither side had gained enoughmilitary or civilian targets to win the war.

President Abraham Lincoln needed a major victory. He was losingthe support of both politicians and citizens. A major victory wouldconfirm that his policies were correct. It also would make it easierfor him to make an important announcement.

For a number of months, he had been planning an announcementconcerning Negroes who were held as slaves in the south. It wouldcome to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe tell about Abraham Lincoln'sEmancipation Proclamation.

VOICE 1:

At the end of August,eighteen-sixty-two, Confederate troops under the command of RobertE. Lee defeated the main Union army at Manassas, Virginia.

The battlefield was less than fifty kilometers from Washington.

The year before, Confederate troops had sent the Union armyfleeing from that same battlefield. Now they had done it again.

With this latest victory, General Lee decided on a major move. Hewould carry the war into the northern states.

Lee took his army of sixty-thousand men across the Potomac Riverinto Maryland. He ordered some of his men to capture the Unionposition at Harpers Ferry. He moved the others to Sharpsburg, a townon the Potomac River.

He put his men into position along Antietam Creek, just outsideof town. His lines extended almost three kilometers. There, atAntietam, he would make his stand.

He was still close enough to Virginia to withdraw, if the Unionforce following him proved too strong.

VOICE 2:

The Union force arrived in the middle of September. It did notattack immediately. It spent one full day getting into positionalong Antietam Creek across from the Confederate army. It attackedthe following day at sunrise.

The Union general, George McClellan, planned to attack all alongthe Confederate line at the same time. But this did not happen.

First, Union troops attacked one end of the line, which extendedinto a field full of tall corn plants. Then they attacked the centerof the line, which was in an old, deeply sunken road that gave itgood protection. Finally, they attacked at the other end of theline.

For each northern attack, General Lee was able to move men towhere they were needed. The northern troops got within twenty-fivemeters of the Confederate line. But they could not break throughanywhere.

VOICE 1:

On the first day of battle at Antietam, Lee lost twenty-fivepercent of his men. On the second day, the two armies faced eachother without firing. They were too tired to fight.

As they rested, however, fresh Union soldiers moved intoposition. Lee knew they would attack with full force the next day.He knew he could not win. Sadly, he ordered his men back toVirginia.

It was now clear: Antietam was a northern victory.

It was not a complete victory. The Union army could have chasedthe Confederate army and destroyed it. But General McClellan did notdo this. He was satisfied that he had stopped the invasion.

VOICE 2:

In Washington, President Lincolnwelcomed the news. He had waited a long time for a northern victory.

A few days after the battle, Lincoln held a special meeting withhis cabinet. He talked about the declaration on slavery which he hadprepared. It would free Negro slaves in the rebel states of thesouth.

"As you remember," he said, "I put the declaration aside severalweeks ago, until I could issue it supported by a military victory.The action of the army against the rebels has not been exactly whatI should have liked. But the rebels have been driven out ofMaryland. And Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion."

President Lincoln said he thought the time was right to announcethe Emancipation Proclamation. The cabinet made some minor changesin the document, and Lincoln signed it.

VOICE 1:

Newspapers printed the proclamation. This is what it said:

VOICE 2:

"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States andCommander-in-Chief of the army and navy, do hereby declare that onthe first day of January, eighteen-sixty-three, all persons held asslaves within any state then in rebellion against the United States,shall then become and be forever free.

"The government of the United States, including the military andnaval forces, will recognize and protect the freedom of suchpersons, and will interfere in no way with any efforts they may makefor their actual freedom."

VOICE 1:

President Lincoln had tried to keep the question of slavery outof the Civil War. To him, there was just one reason for fighting: tosave the Union. Nothing meant more to him than preventing the nationfrom splitting up.

Lincoln feared that the issue of slavery would weaken thenorthern war effort. Many men throughout the north would fight tosave the Union. They would not fight to free the slaves.

Lincoln also needed the support of the four slave states that didnot leave the Union: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. Hecould not be sure of their support if he declared that the purposeof the war was to free the slaves.

As Lincoln waited for a Union victory to announce hisEmancipation Proclamation, he wrote a letter to the "New YorkTribune" newspaper. The letter was to prepare the public for whatwas to come. This is what Lincoln said:

VOICE 2:

"My chief object in this struggle is to save the Union. It is noteither to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union withoutfreeing any slave, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeingall the slaves, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeingsome and leaving others alone, I would also do that.

"What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because Ibelieve it helps to save the Union. This is how I see my officialduty. It does not change my wish -- as a person -- that all meneverywhere could be free."

VOICE 1:

President Lincoln failed to keep the question of slavery out ofthe Civil War. As the war went on, month after long month, people inthe north began to see it as more than a struggle for nationalunity. They began to see it as a struggle for human freedom.

Abolitionists were active. In speeches and writings, they saidover and over again that slavery was evil.

As public opinion began to change, anti-slavery members ofCongress gained more power.

By the summer of eighteen-sixty-two, they had enough support topass laws ending slavery in Washington, D.C. and United Statesterritories. They also pushed through Congress a bill that would domuch to end slavery in the states.

VOICE 2:

The bill was called the "Confiscation Act. " It gave the federalgovernment the power to confiscate, or seize, the property of allpersons who supported the southern rebellion. Slaves were consideredproperty. So any slaves seized under the act would become freeimmediately. Slaves who escaped from rebel slave owners also wouldbe free. The bill would not affect slaves owned by persons whosupported the Union.

President Lincoln did not like the Confiscation Act. He thoughtit interfered with his wartime powers as Commander-in-Chief.

VOICE 1:

However, Lincoln was under great pressure from Abolitionists. Sohe signed the new law. But he did not plan to enforce it. He stillhoped for a plan that would free the slaves slowly, over time.

He proposed such a plan, but only for the border states betweennorth and south. Under his plan, the federal government would buyslaves in the border states and free them.

Lawmakers from the border states rejected Lincoln's plan. Andthat is when he decided to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

We will tell about the effects of that decision next week.

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Announcer:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THEMAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and HarryMonroe. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.