CLA1

CLA1: Newspaper Reports

Jessica Shaffer

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

CLA1: Newspaper Reports

Newspaper Title: The Weekly Washington Chronicle

Article 1 Emancipation Proclamation: ‘Freedom for Slaves as the President issues the Emancipation Proclamation.'

Four days ago, President Abraham Lincoln formally issued the Emancipation Proclamation. A document that declared liberated any slaves living in areas controlled by the Confederates. As the President announced freedom for slaves, the documents contain important details and information regarding the process.

It is the third year of the Civil War. The issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation may help change the tide of the war since it declares any person who was held within the rebel states would "henceforward shall be free." The proclamation applies to all Confederate states if the Confederate States have not yet joined the Union till 1st January 1863. However, the Union can only guarantee freedom to the slaves, under the proclamation, if it wins the war CITATION Jam02 \l 1033 (McPherson, 2002).

The Union Army thus welcomes black men into the Navy and the Union Army, as announced by the Proclamation. Fighting on the side of the union, black sailors and soldiers can help change the tide of the War and bring freedom and emancipation to their brothers and sisters within the Confederates.

Although President Lincoln greatly valued freedom for slaves, he had earlier planned a gradual emancipation to allow people to become slowly acquainted with the notion, since slavery was nothing more than a disease that the nation was suffering from. Therefore, it has to bear the pain of the disease’s removal nonetheless CITATION Jos88 \l 1033 (Berrett, 1988).

Although, the document applies to Confederate states only where the Union currently does not hold power, however, there can be no doubt that the Union wishes to end slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation remains highly symbolic even if it is limited by circumstances.

It is an affirmation that Americans value freedom for every citizen, and want to see the end of slavery. It signifies the Union’s belief that economic, political and racial differences should not divide us a nation.

Article 2 Conditions of prisoners of war in the civil war: ‘The Citizens Made Prisoners’

In any American war till this day, none has seen as much destruction and casualties as the Civil War that is ravaging. What remains hidden from the public is that a significant majority of the casualties were not killed in action, but as a result of the deplorable conditions of prison camps.

The prison camp of Belle Isle is run by the South wherein union soldiers who fought in the Civil War have suffered the most horrible treatment, perhaps worse than any other camp. Being transferred to the camp is virtually a death sentence. The treatment meted out is one that no human ever deserves. Any black men seen in union uniforms are instantly killed in Confederate camps, while white men are held captive.

Some of the people who have had a close look at the camp say that their blood was frozen with horror after what their eyes had seen. American men, who were healthy and active, were reduced to living skeletons, covered in vermin and filth. They wondered if this is what hell is like. Those who are fortunate enough to survive are living in extremely cramped quarters, with harsh living conditions. If they survive a disease outbreak, they are still subject to sadistic treatment from commandants and guards.

Many sleep out in the open with no shelter. Some have made use of blankets, logs and sticks to make small shelters, to survive the sweltering summer heat and the biting winter cold. Wooden structures are absent from Belle Isle. Some were fortunate to be living in thin and crammed canvas tents, while most constructed their own temporary shelters. The lack of shelter only increased the death and disease they were already suffering from CITATION Jud061 \l 1033 (Pizarro, Silver, & Prause, 2006).

Mortality rates in all prison camps are unusually high, both on the union and Confederate sides. Southern prisons, however, are rife with extremely high disease rates and frequently short of doctors, medicine, ice and food CITATION Dav121 \l 1033 (Bush, 2012). Many in the Union suspect that men are being deliberately killed and weakened and there are now increasing calls to make Union camps equally harsh for the rebels.

Article 3 The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: President Lincoln Killed by an Assassin

President Lincoln was assassinated four days ago at the Ford’s Theater at 10:30 pm while he was sitting with his wife and associates, in his private box, when an assassin approached the President from behind, after entering his box, and shot him at the back of his head.

The assassin was seen leaping upon the theater’s stage with a large knife, and seen by witnesses to have escaped through the theater’s rear end. The wound from the pistol’s ball proved fatal, and entered the head of the President from the rear end, ultimately resulting into his death.

The gunshot was heard when there was a temporary pause in the play’s third act. The hall erupted with the sound of a pistol gunshot which caught everyone’s attention for a while. However, the attendees did not take it to be too serious until they saw a man near the box of the President, who waved a large dagger shouting ‘Sic semper tyrannis,' and escaped through the stage.

The event has stirred the heart of the nation like no event has before as news broke out regarding the President’s assassination. The people, in agony and horror, came out of their homes and amassed in different Northern cities to remember the slain president, even as the assassin remains uncaught till present. The federal forces remain avidly in pursuit of the prime suspect, John Wilkes Booth, as the people demand answers CITATION Edw051 \l 1033 (Steers, 2005).

Cities are in mourning, as their victory celebrations, illuminations and fireworks have been canceled. The citizens are mourning and protesting by wearing black badges and ribbons carrying photographs of their President, as they await his state funeral.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Berrett, J. (1988). The Golden Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The Black Perspective in Music, 16(1), 63-80.

Bush, D. R. (2012). I Fear I Shall Never Leave This Island: Life in a Civil War Prison. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

McPherson, J. M. (2002). How President Lincoln Decided to Issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 37, 108-109.

Pizarro, J., Silver, R. C., & Prause, J. (2006). Physical and Mental Health Costs of Traumatic War Experiences Among Civil War Veterans. JAMA Arch Gen Psychiatry, 63(2), 193-200.

Steers, E. (2005). Blood on the moon: the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.