President's Proclamation, The

DESCRIPTION: "John brown died on a scaffold for a slave... Now God avenges the life he gladly gave... Freedom reigns today." "John Brown lives -- we are gaining on our foes." "John Brown's soul not a higher joy can crave -- Freedom reigns today."
AUTHOR: Words: Edna Dean Proctor
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar); almost certainly written 1862/1863
KEYWORDS: Civilwar Black(s) death execution memorial burial rebellion slavery
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1862 - Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-SongsOfTheCivilWar, p. 25, "The President's Proclamation" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune) and references there
NOTES [71 words]: It is one of history's noteworthy ironies that the Emancipation Proclamation, listed as freeing the slaves, did not immediately free any at all; it declared freedom only for the Blacks in rebel-controlled territories, who of course could not be freed until the lands were taken over. But it did change the course of the Civil War.
Of course, John Brown was a genuine fanatic, and he had very little to do with freeing anyway. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.2
File: CSWF025

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography