Author Archives: Matthew Pinsker

DC Emancipation Bibliography

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There is a good bibliography of primary and secondary sources related to emancipation in the District of Columbia posted by the H-DC Discussion Network. Matthew Gilmore posted the resource in 2007, which means that it does not include Kate Masur’s … Continue reading

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Lincoln-Douglas Debates

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The1858 senatorial debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas illustrated the all-consuming national debate over slavery’s future. You can explore the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in Google Earth.  This virtual tour includes historic map layers and customized placemarks with text, images and … Continue reading

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Harpers Ferry

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John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry in October 1859 was a critical event in the history of emancipation.  Brown might have been the most determined emancipator in America during the years before the Civil War.  His audacious plan to seize … Continue reading

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Best Timelines for Emancipation

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Matthew Pinsker has created a one-page timeline of emancipation that offers a useful summary of the major topics covered in this digital classroom. The Freedman and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland has posted an abbreviated but very useful … Continue reading

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Thomas Nast’s “Emancipation” (1863 / 1865)

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The image that provides the banner for this digital classroom comes from famous cartoonist and illustrator, Thomas Nast, and was distributed as a popular print in 1865 through Philadelphia printers King & Baird.  Nast’s vivid illustration that formed the basis … Continue reading

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Liberty and Union, Higher Law, Freedom National

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In what was arguably the best-known speech of the antebellum era, Senator Daniel Webster (Whig, Mass.) provided a stirring attack on extreme southern states’ rights  in his “Second Reply to Hayne,” delivered on the Senate floor, January 26-27, 1830, in … Continue reading

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Recognizing the Federal Consensus

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Historian James Oakes argues that there was a “federal consensus” about slavery in the years between 1787 and 1861 that has too often been overlooked in examinations of emancipation’s origins. Oakes believes that a careful reading of some important primary … Continue reading

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Carpenter’s “First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation” (1864)

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                  The U.S. Senate Historical Office has posted a well-written and detailed summary of Francis B. Carpenter’s famous painting of the moment on Tuesday, July 22, 1862 when Abraham Lincoln read the … Continue reading

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