Abraham Lincoln surprises his cabinet by reading a draft of an executive order freeing all slaves in Confederate states.
Tag: Salmon P. Chase
Blind to the Signs of the Times
Abraham Lincoln revokes David Hunter’s order freeing all slaves in his military department. But Lincoln also declared for the first time that he had the power to free slaves as a wartime necessity.
The Fall of Norfolk
Abraham Lincoln personally directs an operation that results in capturing one of the Confederacy’s most important naval bases.
The Legal Tender Act
Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law establishing the first Federal paper currency in U.S. history–the “U.S. Note.”
Two Distinct and Different Plans
General-in-Chief George B. McClellan develops a plan of attack and defends his military secrecy to increasingly skeptical politicians and subordinates.
The Northern Financial Crisis
The suspension of specie payments by the leading northern banks plunges the North into a financial crisis as the year ends.