"The Radicalism of Lincoln’s New Idea"

"Lincoln presented his proclamation as a putatively military measure. It provided that all slaves in Rebel-controlled territory were thereafter free, a move that exempted both the loyal slave states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri) and the Union-held portions of Confederate states, primarily Tennessee and Louisiana. Of course, the document meant nothing, immediately, for the slaves in Confederate-controlled territories—but it gave them an overwhelming incentive to do whatever they could to expedite Union victory. And it gave them the assurance that Union armies would free them if the soldiers of 'Father Abraham' were victorious."

Richard Striner in The New York Times discusses how Abraham Lincoln unveiled his draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet one hundred fifty years ago this month.