December 1, 1862: The U. S. Congress re-convened, and received Lincoln's second annual message. Unlike the State of the Union Address of modern times, the missive was delivered in written form, and read by a clerk. The full text is available at 
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150 years ago, Lincoln replied to Horace Greely's "Prayer of Twenty Millions". He did not mention that he had a preliminary proclamation of emancipation drafted, but he subtly laid the groundwork for it, since it would go even beyond the Confiscation Act that Greely complained was not being sufficiently enforced:

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August ( Read more... )