Who Was Abraham Lincoln 林肯 Chapter 7 The End of Slavery

As the war neared the end of its second year, more than one hundred battles had been fought, with many thousands of men wounded and killed.
And still, neither side was winning. In the North, it became harder and harder to find men who were willing to join the army. And the government was running out of money to pay for the war.
The South had broken away to keep slavery. Yet, so far, Lincoln had avoided dealing¹ with slavery directly. Now he realized he had to face the issue. Abolitionists supported the war because they thought it would end slavery. They wanted Lincoln to make it illegal once and for all. But even in the North, a lot of people were against this idea. Lincoln was afraid to lose their support. So he hesitated.
He wasn’t sure that the president had the power to outlaw² slavery. He had sworn to protect the laws of the United States, and slavery in the South was legal. The president couldn’t just overturn laws all by himself. That had to come from the people. Only the citizens of the country could change the United States Constitution.
At last, Lincoln came upon a way to do what he thought was right and at the same time obey the Constitution. A country at war was allowed to seize property that the enemy was using to fight the war. Southern states were using slave labor³ in many ways that helped the war effort. Lincoln decided⁴ this was a good legal reason to take slaves away from their owners in the rebel states.
Congress began to pass laws that chipped away at slavery. Slaves who escaped from rebel owners or were captured by the Union army would not be returned to their owners. They were free.
Then Lincoln decided to go further. Quietly, all by himself, he wrote the Emancipation⁵ Proclamation. This proclamation did not free all slaves. It was an act of war, and it applied⁶ only to Confederate states. In the rebel states, all slaves would be freed forever. But in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, slavery remained legal because these states had stayed with the Union.
Lincoln was sure that, once the nation was reunited, it would be possible to end slavery in the whole country. But that had to be done by Congress. As president, he only had power to act against states that were rebelling.
Of course there was no way to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation until the Union had won the war. Just because the proclamation told Southerners to free their slaves, it didn’t mean they would. Lincoln knew this. He said he felt like someone trying to make a law to change the behavior of a comet. But now he had made it clear that the Union planned to end slavery for good. When Lincoln talked to his cabinet, he told them he was not asking their advice. He had made up his mind.
The act took effect on January 1, 1863. Slaves in the South heard the news. Right away, many of them escaped and went north. The Union army began to form regiments⁷ of black soldiers. As free men, they would now fight against their former masters. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 blacks had joined the Union army.
 

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 regiments   

（军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物

参考例句：

• The three regiments are all under the command of you. 这三个团全归你节制。
• The town was garrisoned with two regiments. 该镇有两团士兵驻守。