On Monday, January 21, President Obama will be sworn in for a second term. It will be the 57th Presidential Inauguration. Beginning at 11:30 a.m., the President’s swearing-in ceremony will be shown live in the William G. McGowan Theater at the National Archives. If you are in Washington, DC, don't miss this chance to see … Continue reading See 13 Inaugurations in Four Days at the National Archives
Author: hparkins
Washington’s first Inaugural Address now on display
"My station is new; and, if I may use the expression, I walk on untrodden ground." --George Washington in a letter, January 9, 1790 Today's post comes to us from Michael Hussey, education and exhibition specialist at the National Archives. In honor of the 2013 Inauguration, the first and last page of Washington's first Inauguration … Continue reading Washington’s first Inaugural Address now on display
The Check is in the Mail: The Hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s Congressional Pay Records
Today's blog post comes from David J. Gerleman, assistant editor of The Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln’s two-year stint as a Illinois Whig congressman is one of the lesser-known periods of his eventful life. Had he remained in obscurity, it might have remained the crowning achievement of a fizzled frontier political career. Having been … Continue reading The Check is in the Mail: The Hunt for Abraham Lincoln’s Congressional Pay Records
Emancipation Proclamation: The 13th Amendment
Today’s blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. The news of the Emancipation Proclamation was greeted with joy, even though it did not free all the slaves. Because of the limitations of the proclamation, and because it depended on a Union military victory, President Lincoln recognized that the Emancipation Proclamation would … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: The 13th Amendment
Emancipation Proclamation: January 1, 1863
Today’s blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. On the first day of the new year in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, declaring freedom for slaves in parts of the Confederacy that had not yet come under Union control. Historian John Hope Franklin described the day: [It] was a … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: January 1, 1863
Emancipation Proclamation: A Letter Home
Today’s blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation brought freedom to the slaves in the Confederacy. By the war's end, the U.S. Colored Troops Bureau had recruited hundreds of thousands of black soldiers, who fought for both their own and others' freedom. The Emancipation … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: A Letter Home
Emancipation Proclamation: Creation of the United States Colored Troops
The issues of freedom for the slaves and military service were intertwined from the beginning of the Civil War. News from Fort Sumter had set off a rush by free black men to enlist in military units. They were turned away, however, because a Federal law dating from 1792 barred them from bearing arms for … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: Creation of the United States Colored Troops
Emancipation Proclamation: “It is my Desire to be Free”
Today’s blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. Only 100 days after promising in the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that slaves in the Confederacy would soon be freed, Lincoln fulfilled that promise by signing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This proclamation changed the character of the war, adding moral force … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: “It is my Desire to be Free”
The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
Today’s blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. Throughout the Civil War, when President Lincoln needed to concentrate—when he faced a task that required his focused and undivided attention—he would leave the White House, cross the street to the War Department, and take over the desk of Thomas T. Eckert, chief … Continue reading The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation: A Certificate of Freedom
Today’s blog post comes from National Archives social media intern Anna Fitzpatrick. Before President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, the Federal Government took steps to begin the process of freeing the slaves. In July 1862—acting on Lincoln's warning that freeing slaves in parts of the South occupied by Union troops might … Continue reading Emancipation Proclamation: A Certificate of Freedom