In a message to Congress, President Abraham Lincoln proposed using federal bonds to compensate states that voluntarily abolished slavery by the year 1900. He framed this gradual emancipation plan as a way to preserve the Union while encouraging the peaceful end of slavery. Although this proposal did not gain enough support in Congress, it underscored Lincoln’s evolving stance on slavery, coming just weeks before he would sign the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
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