[Moose4]

Interesting. I know there’s been a lot of debate on here during the various WBTS threads regarding whether the Federal government would or could have done something like this pre-War. Trouble is, I don’t see how this could’ve possibly shortened the war—by 1862, with the battle as fiercely joined as it was, the Confederate forces saw it as defense of the South against an invading army. Emancipating slaves would have done nothing to speed an end to that. Besides, at that point, Southern slaveholders probably wouldn’t have sold their slaves to “the enemy” who was busy trying to invade their land.

}:-)4

[rhombus]

Agreed. After firing on Sumter, the Rebs weren’t in a mood to compromise.

[broncobilly]

Interestingly, the idea was first proposed by Joseph Smith in his 1844 platform in running for the presidency of the U.S. That “favorite son” candidacy was stopped by Joseph Smith’s assassination. The idea was late for Lincoln at the beginning of the war, but it wasn’t late for it to be applied in 1844. Joseph Smith proposed that the money be raised by the sale of western lands.