During the whole period of 65438+11960s and 65438+11970s, the relationship between Britain and its North American colonies became increasingly tense. The British Parliament keeps taxing the colonies, but there are no representatives of the colonies in the Parliament. The British Parliament promulgated the Sugar Tax Law, Stamp Tax Law and Townsend Tax Law respectively, which triggered the resistance of the colonial people. The tension between the thirteen colonies in British North America and the Kingdom of Great Britain continued to rise, and finally the Battle of Lexington and the Battle of Concord broke out in 1775, which became the forerunner of the American War of Independence.

At first, complete independence was only the idea of a few people, until the intolerable bill that strongly suppressed colonial autonomy was passed, and the view that Britain's home country was an oppressor became more and more extensive. 1774 Suffolk Resolution of Massachusetts Colony and 1776 Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense further set off the anti-British trend.

In Thomas Paine's "Common Sense", a pamphlet with less than 50 pages, Thomas Paine accurately answered the concerns of the colonial people in North America with concise and vivid language, and pointed out the necessity of the independence of the North American colonies from a brand-new perspective. Thomas Paine called on the colonial people to make a clean break with Britain and establish their own republic.

He emphasized that real power must and can only come from the people. Thomas Paine's thought represents the radical thought in the American Revolution. His theory inspired more colonial people in North America, especially the middle and lower classes, to devote themselves firmly to the War of Independence. At this point, the war has turned to fighting for colonial independence.

The Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and signed by other 13 colonial representatives. It originally declared the independence of the United States from Britain. As early as 100 years before independence, the European Enlightenment began to spread in North America, which laid a theoretical foundation for the publication of the Declaration of Independence.

Influenced by the European Enlightenment, North American colonies also produced their own enlightenment thinkers, represented by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. They opposed slavery and advocated people's freedom and equal rights. And shouted the slogan: "No taxation without representation". This slogan was originally the basic principle of British politics. It was used in the struggle between the British nobility and the royal family, but it was used by colonists to defend their rights in the War of Independence.

Second, the historical background of the Emancipation of Slaves Act.

After the civil war broke out, quite a few slaves volunteered to help the federal war for their own freedom, but there were still some conflicts on how to deal with the slave problem in the occupied areas. At first, Lincoln withdrew the liberation orders issued by some generals, and the strict implementation of this policy forced the escaped slaves to return to their southern masters. However, in March 1862, the confederate government banned all federal commanders from repatriating fugitive slaves, which affected the abolition of the fugitive slave law 1850.

On April 1862, 1 1 day, Congress announced that the federal government had guaranteed the release of slave owners, and all slaves in Washington were liberated on April 1862, 16.

1In July, 862, Congress abolished slavery in the federal territory, which invalidated the resolution made by the US Supreme Court in the case of Deford Scott v. Sanford in 1857: this resolution once made Congress have no right to supervise slavery in the whole country.

Lincoln once claimed that he had no constitutional right to liberate slaves. In addition, the liberation of slaves is a risky political act, because some slave-holding States are still loyal to the Federation, and the original purpose of the war is to protect the integrity of the Federation, not to liberate slaves. Based on this, this declaration is only a military order issued by Lincoln himself as the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces, not a bill or constitutional amendment with the same status promulgated by Congress.

There are other views that the Emancipation Proclamation itself is unconstitutional. It is a kind of leader's expansion of power to direct military operations, rather than creating new laws. The Emancipation Proclamation also transferred the consent right to liberate slaves to the federal army. This rare opportunity will benefit the blacks who used to be slaves, and will also give northerners extra human resources, which southerners can't follow until a few days before the defeat.

Lincoln first discussed the manifesto with his cabinet in July, 1862, but considering the political impact of this move, he felt that the union army needed a victory to release it. After the Union Army repelled the Confederate invasion of Maryland at the Battle of Antietam, it issued a preliminary declaration on September 24th, 1862, and a final declaration on September 24th, the following year 10.

The Emancipation Proclamation itself is limited by its direct influence on slavery. It can only take effect in the confederate territory under federal control, while slavery in the border States is completely unaffected, because it is still loyal to the federation. William henry seward, the US Secretary of State, once commented: "We express our sympathy for slavery by liberating those slaves that we can't control and enslaving those that we can."

Any state that seceded from the Union, as long as it rejoined the Union before the entry into force of the Declaration, has the status of a marginal state, and can at least temporarily maintain slavery. 1 86365438+1October1,American President Lincoln officially implemented the Emancipation Proclamation.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Declaration of Independence

Baidu Encyclopedia-Emancipation Manifesto