V. A New Birth of Freedom Summary and Analysis

"Are, and Henceforth Shall Be Free" - In the full Emancipation Proclamation (January 1863), Lincoln declares that all slaves in the Union and the Confederacy shall be free. As opposed to other areas of rhetorical flourish, the proclamation is straightforward and brief.

"Broken Eggs Cannot Be Mended" - Lincoln defends the Emancipation Proclamation to a Democratic Congressman. He dismisses alarmist claims that the slaves would rise up to exterminate whites in the South, and he refuses, of course, to retract any portion of the proclamation.

"I Will Risk the Dictatorship" - Lincoln writes to General Hooker, whom he had just appointed as general for the Potomac army. Lincoln directly addresses Hooker's headstrong and ambitious nature, and states that he is assigning him the generalship in spite of, and not because of such...