From that point forward, the road to reimagining America without slavery would be long and arduous. With those words and a slightly trembling hand, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring “that all persons held as slaves.shall be then, thenceforward and forever free.” 2 Although this proclamation did not immediately eliminate slavery in the United States, it fundamentally altered the character of the Civil War, transforming it from a sectional conflict into a war for freedom and abolition. Now this signature is one that will be closely examined, and if they find my hand trembled, they will say, ‘he had some compunctions.’ But, anyway, it is going to be done." 1 But I have been shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning till my arm is stiff and numb. "I never in my life felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper. Before taking his pen to this historic document, Lincoln was recorded as saying: Secretary of State William Seward and his son, Frederick, brought the president the Emancipation Proclamation. In the early afternoon, Lincoln returned to his office upstairs on the Second Floor. That morning, President Abraham Lincoln hosted the annual New Year’s Day reception at the White House, spending several hours in the Blue Room shaking hands with hundreds of citizens. Januwas a watershed moment in American history.
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