New Jersey-2012-SR79-Introduced

A Senate Resolution commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which provided the legal framework for the emancipation of nearly four million slaves in the United States.

Whereas, January 1, 2013 commemorates the 150th anniversary of the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation which provided "that all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free"; and

Whereas, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 declaring that he would order the emancipation of all slaves of any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863; and

Whereas, None of the affected states returned to Union control, and the President issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War by an Executive Order on January 1, 1863, under his authority as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, pursuant to Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution, and relying on martial power to suspend civil law in those states which were in rebellion; and

Whereas, The Emancipation Proclamation applied in ten states, specifically: Arkansas, Texas, parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and parts of Virginia, that were still in rebellion in 1863; it did not cover the nearly 500,000 slaves in the slave-holding border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland or Delaware; and

Whereas, The Proclamation provided the legal framework for the emancipation of nearly all four million slaves as the Union Armies advanced, and committed the Union to ending slavery, which was accomplished by July 1865 when nearly all four million slaves were freed; and

Whereas, The Proclamation also announced that the freed slaves would be accepted into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators, so that by the end of the war almost 200,000 African-American soldiers and sailors had fought for the union and freedom; and

Whereas, The Proclamation served as a forerunner to the passage by the Congress of the United States, and the ratification by the states in 1865, of the Thirteenth Amendment which ensured the abolition of slavery everywhere in the United States; and

Whereas, In order for the citizens of New Jersey to be aware of the 150th anniversary of the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation and to properly recognize the significant impact of this event upon the freedom of the people of the United States of America; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

1. This House commemorates the 150th anniversary of the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 2013, and calls upon the citizens of this State to observe this significant event with appropriate activities.

2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested to by the Secretary of the Senate shall be transmitted to the Governor, to the Lieutenant Governor as Secretary of State, and to each member of the New Jersey Congressional delegation.

STATEMENT

This Senate Resolution commemorates the 150th anniversary of the issuance on January 1, 1863 of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln that ensured the emancipation of nearly all 400 million slaves in the United States. The resolution provides a brief historical record to provide the citizens of this State with an awareness of this momentous event and to urge the observation of this anniversary with appropriate activities.

The Emancipation Proclamation followed President Abraham Lincoln's Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that he would order the emancipation of all slaves of any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863, which the Confederate States failed to do. With the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, recruitment of African-American men became legal and thousands fought for the Union and freedom. The Proclamation also served as a forerunner to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that ensured the abolition of slavery everywhere in the United States.

At the August 28, 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech in which he declared that the Proclamation gave hope to African-American slaves and had four enduring results. It gave force to the executive power to change conditions in the national interest on a broad scale. It dealt a devastating blow to the system of slavery and the economy built upon it. It enabled African-Americans to play an important role in their own liberation, and it resurrected the principle of equality upon which the founding of the nation rested.