Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Not long after that, Emerson delivered his address, The Emancipation Proclamation, in Boston. If you’ve been following along with Emerson on the matter of slavery, you can imagine how near to giddy Emerson must have been when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. While his address is not giddy, it is definitely celebratory.
Of course, Emerson praises Lincoln:
He has been permitted to do more for America than any other American man. He is well entitled to the most indulgent construction. Forget all that we thought shortcomings, every mistake, every delay. In the extreme embarrassments of his part, call these endurance, wisdom, magnanimity; illuminated, as they now are, by this dazzling success.
And concludes that Lincoln’s courage to “seize the moment” has reinstated the federal government into “the good graces of mankind.”
Not only can American citizens have faith in their government again, they have also ceased to be hypocrites and “what we have styled our free institutions will be such.” Americans can hold up their heads again because their honor has been returned. Maybe I am reading it wrong, but when Emerson says the Proclamation
does not promise the redemption of the black race; that lies not with us: but it relieves it of our opposition. The President by this act has paroled all the slaves in America; they will no more fight against us: and it relieves our race once for all of its crime and false position.
When he says this I get the feeling that he believes whites have done their duty and now no longer have any responsibility. It’s as if he believes that by ending slavery blacks, who were beaten and not allowed any education, will suddenly, without opposition from whites and their laws, be able to pull themselves up and take full advantage of the same opportunities as whites whose hands are now washed clean. Like I said, I could be reading it wrong, but it’s as though Emerson cared more about ending the institution of slavery than he did about the slaves themselves.
He goes on to speak of the war and how it was inevitable. He talks about the war in the past tense, as though now that the slaves are free it would be all over. “Reconstruction on a just and healthful basis” seems to be just around the corner. But Emerson got a little ahead of himself because the war lasted another three years and the horror of Gettysburg was a little less than a year away.
Next week’s Emerson: Abraham Lincoln
The way I read it, Emerson might just be a little too “optimistic”. He probably thought slavery was the only obstacle and institution put in place to prevent the inequality. That once emancipated, they will naturally rise to their inherent lofty human spirits.
He forgets how society has other more invisible forces to suppress its lower classes.
I’m very curious about what he meant by “it relieves our race once for all of its crime and false position”
It “relieves”? I have an image of Pontius Pilate washing his hands here, which is probably unfair.
I’m only reading this via a filter of course. It’s just that a lot of the time, I think writers and philosophers get too caught up with abstract ideas and they don’t always seem to see the real world.
It seems to me he is mightily relieved that in his own mind he no longer has any reason to reproach America. Finally, he seems to be saying, we can settle back to believing ourselves a just and free nation, in which everyone must take their own chances and be responsible for themselves, of course. But now at least, there are no holds barred to any one group of citizens. You could easily argue that that is a little bit swift and optimistic, but following these posts I have the sense Emerson responded in a very cerebral fashion to the crisis, and that it was his sense of fair dealing and even-handedness that was most offended by slavery. But there are lots of possible ways of looking at it.
I’d say he’s a bit overoptimistic as well – there’s a lot more work to be done (how sad that 150 years later this statement is still true). But I like his enthusiasm and his relief – it must have been an extraordinary day to experience in history.
I like your new blog picture! Your reading of Emerson makes sense to me — certainly many other Americans have thought along similar lines, that once the country ended slavery and then segregation that its job was done. Far from it.
Ah what insightful people you all are!
Dark Orpheus, yes, I think overly optimistic is a good description. And “relieves” bothered me too. I agree with you that writers and philosophers sometimes forget to look at the real world.
Litlove, I knew you would have something interesting to say. I think you are right that Emerson’s sense of fairness was deeply offended by slavery. I think he is more interested in that and the moral offenses than he was actually concerned about the human beings it affected. That might be why he can manage to be so optimistic.
Verbivore, Emerson is enthusiastic, isn’t he? I’m with you, it must have been an extraordinary time in history to live.
Dorothy, thanks! Yes, sometimes it is difficult to see the inequalities that lie beneath the bigger issue.