eBook celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation

Today’s post comes from Stephanie Greenhut, Education Technology Specialist, in the Education and Public Programs division.

In the midst of the Civil War, on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the

Emancipation Proclamation. This document, preserved here at the National Archives, formally
proclaimed the freedom of all enslaved people held in areas still in revolt. After hosting a traditional New Year’s Day reception at the White House, and shaking hands with several hundred people, President Lincoln signed the document with a shaky hand. He said, “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.”

This account – and many others surrounding Lincoln, emancipation, and United States military and government decisions during the Civil War – is included in our new eBook, created to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in 2013.

The National Archives presents The Meaning and Making of Emancipation. It places the Emancipation Proclamation in its social and political context by presenting related documents from the National Archives’ holdings. They illustrate the efforts of the many Americans, enslaved and free, white and black, by whom slavery was abolished in the United States.

The Meaning and Making of Emancipation is available for free for multiple devices on our new eBooks page athttp://www.archives.gov/publications/ebooks.

• For iPad, download the interactive Multi-Touch book with iBooks on your iPad, or on your computer with iTunes.
• For iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, download it with iBooks, or on your computer with iTunes.
• For Android phone, Android tablet, iPhone, iPad, Nook, SONY Reader, other mobile device or
  eReader, or PC or Mac, download the ePub file fromhttp://www.archives.gov/publications/ebooks. Open it with an eReader app on your phone or tablet, your eReader device, or an online ePub reader for your Mac or PC.
• Read it online on Scribd or on your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, or Android tablet using the Scribd app.

The Meaning and Making of Emancipation is the second commemorative eBook created by the National Archives. Exploring the United States Constitution celebrated the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. Each chapter connects one or more of the billions of records in the holdings of the National Archives to the principles found in the U.S. Constitution. This eBook is also available at http://www.archives.gov/publications/ebooks.