Abraham Lincoln FAQ: Part Three All week on the OUPblog we will
be celebrating the Lincoln Bicentennial. Be sure to read
Jennifer Weber’s post on how Lincoln almost failed, the excerpt
from James M. McPherson’s Abraham Lincoln, and Craig L. Symonds
post on how Lincoln and his leadership are reflected in our
current President. In the original piece below Allen Guelzo,
author of Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction, answers some FAQs
about Lincoln. You can read part one here and part two here.
OUPblog: More than one observer has noted that the Emancipation
Proclamation didn’t free any enslaved people in the very
territory controlled by Lincoln’s government. What then is its
lasting importance? Allen Guelzo: This is probably the most-
frequently-repeated howler in American history, and no one who
thinks twice about will ever believe they said it. The question
refers to an apparent oddity in the Emancipation Proclamation –
Lincoln freed the slaves in the Confederate States, but did not
free the slaves of the four bo