I “imagine” that laws work the same way they always work. A law is passed and signed into law. That law is valid until another law repeals it. Civil law pertains to civilians and military law and regulations pertain to military personel.
In July 1862, the U.S. Congress passed “the Second Confiscation Act” which freed slaves held by rebels in the South.
On Jan 1st, 1863, Lincoln’s EP freed slaves held by rebels in the South.
The 13th Amendment freed all slaves and outlawed slavery by the end of 1865.
The “Second Confiscation Act” and the 13th Amendment repealed other civil laws. CIC Lincoln’s EP used the Union Army to enforce his proclamation on the CSA and CSA State laws only.
That’s why I’m confused why you keep mentioning the Army. The Army really isn’t involved in law enforcement. So why do you appear to feel former slaves freed by the Emancipation Proclamation needed the Army to protect them?
Jurisdiction. The Emancipation Proclamation was basically a military order issued by the CIC to the Union Army/Navy. The Union Army/Navy would no longer consider runaway slaves to be “confiscated contraband”. Only the Union Army/Navy were being ordered to now consider runaway slaves to be free.
CIC Lincoln’s EP had no effect on northern State and federal laws. Whatever civil, slave-related, northern laws that existed on Dec 13, 1862 still existed on Jan 1, 1863.
Lincoln was walking a fine line before and during the war. He could issue orders to the military without much risk of mutiny but issuing orders to non-slave northern States that would prevent the return of escaped slaves to northern slave States as well as the freeing of slaves in northern slaves States risked the secession of another four States and the possibility that West “We Seceded Twice” Virgina wouldn’t rejoin the Union. Lincoln certainly knew how to “pick his political fights” but he wasn’t very good at picking theaters to attend. hehehe. (What? Too soon?)
CIC Lincoln’s EP also ordered the U.S. Army to accept ex-slaves and freemen as soldiers. The U.S. Navy had always been integrated but the ranks (basically the jobs available to sailors) were limited. The U.S. Navy even created a rank of “contraband” in 1863.
Escaped slave Robert Blake,
Rank and Organization: Contraband, U.S. Navy,
was the 1st “African American” (politically correct wording) to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
You’re entitled to your opinion. The Emancipation Proclamation was never vetted in any courtroom so opinions vary quite a bit. However, the National Park Service doesn’t agree with you.
*The final proclamation, issued January 1, 1863, identified those areas “in rebellion.” They included virtually the entire Confederacy, except areas controlled by the Union army. The document notably excluded the so-called border states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, where slavery existed side by side with Unionist sentiment. In areas where the U.S. government had authority, such as Maryland and much of Tennessee, slavery went untouched. In areas where slaves were declared free - most of the South - the federal government had no effective authority.
The Emancipation Proclamation had a profound influence on the course of the war and the institution of slavery. In addition to setting the state for the freedom of millions of former slaves, it was also a decisive war measure. It deprived the South of valuable slave labor for its war effort as thousands of slaves fled to nearby Union camps, and historians believe that it influenced the decision of England and France not to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. It also allowed nearly 180,000 former slaves and free blacks to serve and fight alongside their countrymen as United States Colored Troops.
Although his famous proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, black Americans saw Lincoln as a savior. Official legal freedom for the slaves came in December 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery*.
*The Proclamation was issued in two parts. The first part, issued on September 22, 1862, was a preliminary announcement outlining the intent of the second part, which officially went into effect 100 days later on January 1, 1863, during the second year of the Civil War. It was Abraham Lincoln’s declaration that all slaves would be permanently freed in all areas of the Confederacy that had not already returned to federal control by January 1863. The ten affected states were individually named in the second part. Not included were the Union slave states of Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky. Also not named was the state of Tennessee, which was at the time more or less evenly split between Union and Confederacy. Specific exemptions were stated for areas also under Union control on January 1, 1863, namely 48 counties that would soon become West Virginia, seven other named counties of Virginia including Berkeley and Hampshire counties which were soon added to West Virginia, New Orleans and 13 named parishes nearby.
Union-occupied areas of the Confederate states where the proclamation was put into immediate effect by local commanders included Winchester, Virginia[12], Corinth, Mississippi [13], the Sea Islands along the coasts of the Carolinas and Georgia[14], Key West, Florida [15], and Port Royal, South Carolina.*
CIC Lincoln’s EP didn’t change or repeal any civil laws in northern slave or non-slave States.
Nice of you to concede I’m entitled to my “opinion” of something that happened in 1863.
Here’s some other opinions I have about the war.
I’m of the opinion that Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. I’m of the opinion that the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in 1861. I’m of the opinion that there was a battle fought near Shiloh Church in Tennessee in 1862. I’m of the opinion that the United States captured Atlanta in 1864. And I’m of the opinion the Lee surrendered in 1865.
What’s the point? You seem to have a different understanding of what history is than I do. You seem to think it’s made up of opinions rather than facts. Who won the Presidential election in 1864? I think it was Lincoln and you think it was McClellan. But you’re willing to concede we’re each entitled to our own opinion on the issue.