Comparing the Emancipation Proclamation to the Russian Emancipation Manifesto

By Ashley Tango

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation directly freed all slaves residing in the Confederate States. President Lincoln was the president of the Union of the United States of America. Lincoln personally disagreed with the idea of slavery, and he was disgusted by the degradation of humans based on ace. Lincoln also believed that it was his duty sent from God to abolish slavery. Additionally, Lincoln’s decision to free slaves was a military tactic that allowed the Union army an increase of numbers. Following the proclaimed freedom of slaves, Lincoln welcomed the freed slaves into his army to help end the Civil War going on in America.

The Russian Emancipation Manifesto was issued by Tsar Alexander II on February 19, 1861. Alexander II was the emperor of Russia at the time. The emperor wanted to liberate serfs in order to modernize Russian economy without dealing with the peasants’ unrest. He brought up the idea of abolishing serfdom in order to avoid uprisings among the serfs.

Slavery began in the 17th century when the first African slaves were brought into America to be sold to slave owners. Slaves were treated as property, and slave owners were allowed to buy, sell, and do whatever they wanted to their slaves. If a slave disobeyed his or her owner, it was not unusual for the slave to be whipped or beaten to teach that slave a lesson. Slaves were often put to work on plantations in which the slaves’ manual labor would produce profits for the plantation owner. In the 1860s, United States had approximately four million slaves at the time.

Serfdom became widespread in Russia in the 13th century following Tartar devastation. Thousands of Russians became homeless and were forced to settle on the land of wealthy Russian landowners in which the feudal system began to take hold. A serf is defined as a peasant who lives under the political system of feudalism. The peasant is similar to the slave in how they are tied to the land of a landowner who also owns the right to that peasant’s existence. The difference between slaves and serfs is that serfs were local Russians and essentially the landowners were enslaving their own people. In America, slaves were imported from other countries and were not considered “American.” Ultimately serfs were given land to own, but could not leave the area they were born in and had to perform tasks for the “good of the community." In 1649 the Code of Law made all serfs essentially slaves, and by the mid 19 th century Russia had twenty three million privately owned serfs.

At the time of the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the United States was engaged in a Civil War. The Union, led by Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederacy, led by Jefferson Davis, were battling over the cause of slavery. Under Lincoln’s presidency, southern states worried that he would try to abolish slavery. South Carolina was the first to secede, and several other states followed soon after. The War was the nation-wide battle to decide the existence of slavery, and it is the sole reason that Abraham Lincoln presented the Emancipation Proclamation. By emancipating the slaves, Lincoln would not only receive more numbers for his army, but he would have a peace of mind for stopping the horrible condition of blacks in the Confederate States.

Before the Russian Emancipation Manifesto was passed in 1861, Russia was defeated by England, France, and Turkey in the Crimean War. Clair W. Keller describes the defeat when she says it “showed Russia’s military weakness, the country’s backwardness, and exposed the economic, administrative, and social ineptness of Russia’s autocratic regime.” Keller is expressing what Emperor Alexander II was feeling: that change was needed in Russia. Due to the loss of the Crimean War, Alexander knew that change was desperately needed to improve Russia, and he specifically wanted to modernize Russian economy. Knowing that the peasant class would be upset with a change in economy, the emperor proposed the idea of abolishing serfdom to avoid peasant uprisings in the country. The idea was approved, and the Russian Emancipation Manifesto was created.

Following the Emancipation Proclamation, several freedoms were granted to slaves. Firstly, all slaves in the Confederate States were freed, and Lincoln stated that “the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons.” By this, Lincoln is saying that the US military will ensure the freedom of the freed slaves. Also, Lincoln proposes in the Emancipation Proclamation that the freed slaves join the military in which they would participate in armed services of the United States garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places they could be needed. The Emancipation Proclamation did free slaves in the Confederate States, but one disadvantage that came from the document is that it did not ultimately free slaves in the Union.

The passing of the Russian Emancipation Manifesto granted serfs several liberties that they did not have previously. The terms of the Emancipation Manifesto granted serfs freedom and gave them the right to own one third of their previous owner’s land. The newly freed peasants would pay for the land by either giving one fourth of the price to the original owner on installments or give three fourths of the price to the government over a forty nine year period. An Office of Peasant Affairs was created to help enforce the new rules set by Alexander II that would help improve the lives of serfs. The Emancipation Manifesto ultimately improved the lives of peasants and abolished serfdom in Russia. The nobles and land owners ultimately were at a loss due to the document because they had to give up their land and workers.

Pictography“Russian Serfs.” Drawing. History of Slavery: An Overview. Accessed on 12 June 2013. http://photos.state.gov/galleries/amgov/30145/slave/ Accessed June 12, 2103.

“American Civil War.” Painting. Civil War Conundrum. Accessed on 15 June 2013. http://hauensteincenter.org/civil-war-1-conundrum/

“Emancipation Proclamation.” Photograph. National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed on 15 June 2013. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/

“Emancipation Manifesto.” Photograph. The Center for Historical Social Science Literature. January 11, 2012. Accessed on 11 June 2013. http://chssl.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/collection/bernstein/book01_e.html

“Abraham Lincoln.” Photograph. Buffalo History Works. Accessed on 11 June 2013. http://www.buffalohistoryworks.com/lincoln/reception.htm

“Tsar Alexander II.” Photograph. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Accessed on 10 June 2013.http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A4417.html

“Post Emancipation Proclamation.” Drawing. World History Project. Accessed on 10 June 2013. http://worldhistoryproject.org/topics/emancipation-proclamation

“Crimean War.” Photograph. Military War Photos. Accessed on 15 June 2013. http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?125097-Crimean-War-Photos-(1854- 1856)

“Serfs and Peasants.” Painting. Subversify. Accessed on 16 June 2013. http://subversify.com/2012/06/27/serfs-and-peasants/