“Freedom’s Eve” has given way to the morning of January 1, the day U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln arises in anticipation of signing the Proclamation, only to be distracted by a message from General Ambrose Burnside who, following his defeat at Fredericksburg two weeks earlier, is offended by a…
Baptists of the North continue celebrating U.S. President Abraham Lincoln‘s decision to emancipate African slaves. The Philadelphia Baptist Association — the oldest Baptist association in America, founded in 1707 — joins in a stream of praises for the president’s actions by writing a letter to the Lincoln administration. Quoting scripture, evidencing patriotism, and claiming the…
Confederate commissioners to the United States, Martin Crawford of Georgia (illustration, a Southern Baptist) and John Forsyth of Alabama propose, to U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, a peaceful solution to the hostilities between the two nations. Basically, Crawford and Forsyth maintain the rightness of the southern “revolution” that has established an independent nation, and…