Today is the date in 1862 on which Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (it became effective on January 1, 1863). It's difficult now to realize how extremely controversial that was.
Many thought freeing slaves in the Confederacy would cause so many desertions in the Union army that the war would be lost. Even more thought that African-Americans were better off as slaves and that they should not have any rights.
But Abraham Lincoln knew that the United States needed "a new birth of freedom" and took a great chance, freeing more people from slavery than had ever been done in the history of the world. The result was a much better country but one that still has racial problems lasting from the time of slavery.
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