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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC03790 |
| From Archive Folder | Unassociated Civil War Documents 1862 |
| Title | Mansfield Lovell to Joseph Lovell regarding his opinion on the Emancipation Proclamation |
| Date | 30 October 1862 |
| Author | Lovell, Mansfield (1822-1884) |
| Recipient | Lovell, Joseph |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Confederate Major General Lovell writes to his son concerning his belief that the Emancipation Proclamation would create dissension in the North and ultimately aid the Confederacy. "I think Lincoln's proclamation will produce dissensions and trouble at the North, and will thus indirectly benefit our Cause. The Democratic party there is not willing to go headlong into any abolition war." Comments on Joseph's improvements in arithmetic and tells him to be a good boy and take care of his mother. |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Confederate General or Leader Confederate States of America Union Forces Presidential Speeches and Proclamations President Emancipation Emancipation Proclamation African American History Politics Abolition Democratic Party Children and Family Women's History Education Mathematics |
| People | Lovell, Mansfield (1822-1884) Lovell, Joseph (fl. 1862) |
| Place written | Holly Springs, Mississippi |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Government & Politics; Slavery & Abolition; The Presidency; Women in American History; Children & Family |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Additional Information | Lovell, a West Point graduate who had served in the Mexican War, had unsuccessfully defended New Orleans against a Union fleet in April 1862. Even before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair (1813-1883), a former Democrat from Maryland, had warned the President that this decision might stimulate antiwar protests among northern Democrats and cost the administration the fall 1862 elections. In fact, Peace Democrats did protest against the proclamation and Lincoln's assumption of powers not specifically granted by the Constitution. Among the "abuses" they denounced were his unilateral decision to call out the militia to suppress the "insurrection," impose a blockade of southern ports, expand the army beyond the limits set by law, spend federal funds without prior congressional authorization, and suspend the writ of habeas corpus (the right of persons under arrest to have their case heard in court). The Lincoln administration imprisoned about 13,000 people without trial during the war, and shut Democratic newspapers in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago for varying amounts of time. The Democrats failed to gain control of the House of Representatives in the Fall 1862 election, in part because the preliminary emancipation proclamation gave a higher moral purpose to the northern cause. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |
| Transcript | Show/hide |