Lincoln Herald
Creator: William H. Seward
Subjects: Historic Designation
Description: Article discussing the Washington and Lincoln windows.
Date: October 1947
Format: Text/jpg
Original Format: Newspaper Clipping
Language: English
Rights Management: William H. Seward, Secretary of State
Contributing Institution:
Contributor: Carlton Rolle
Pages: |  |  |
Transcript: The Washington and Lincoln windows are each 18 feet in height and 7 feet 2 inches in width. The use of the Stars and Stripes as background has already been commented upon. The coloring is vivid and changes with the time of day and the brilliance of the sun. Singularly impressive are the windows at sunset and twilight coming on. The vivid colors shade into subdued hues, yet continue to be arresting and of an eerie mystic quality. It would seem that the mighty characters undergo a transfiguration as the day dies, a symbol of what has actually occurred as Washington and Lincoln were gathered to the fathers and there followed in due season their apotheosis.
Lincoln admirers from afar have stood with me in the sanctuary of our stately Gothic edifice, to admire these two windows memorializing our two greatest American figures. I recall a day when Miss Ida M. Tarbell stood by my side as we gazed on the Lincoln window and that noted Lincoln biographer voiced her tribute. W.O. Stoddard, son of one of Lincoln's secretaries, has on several occasions entered the sanctuary of Central Woodward Church on weekdays to stand before these windows and muse upon their meaning.
For many years we have celebrated a Washington and Lincoln annual dinner in the great dining hall of the church, which has been widely publicized and largely attended. Among the Lincoln orators who have spoken on these occasions are Honorable George A. Dondero, Congressman from the Seventeenth Michigan District, an authority on the subject; Dr. Lynn Harold Hough, brilliant preacher-professor of Drew Seminary, Madison, N. J.; Dr. Louis A Warren of the Lincoln National Life Foundation, Fort.
The Emancipation Proclamation
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
That on the first day of January, in the year our our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of the States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and people thereof are not in rebellion against the United States.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of 100 days from the day first mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of the States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (ecept the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anee, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do not order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, shall recognize and maintain thee freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases where allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused thee seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, the first day of January, in the year of our Lord on thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
*The fourth aisle window on the "State and Government" on the west wall of the Riverside Church, New York City, depicts the Emancipation Proclamation. Also, in this same church a statue of Lincoln is in the center panel of the chancel screen. It is above and to the left of the cross and the baptistry, and is one of the larger eighteen figures depicted in this section of the screen, which has for its general theme, "Christ, the humanitarian."
Lincoln admirers from afar have stood with me in the sanctuary of our stately Gothic edifice, to admire these two windows memorializing our two greatest American figures. I recall a day when Miss Ida M. Tarbell stood by my side as we gazed on the Lincoln window and that noted Lincoln biographer voiced her tribute. W.O. Stoddard, son of one of Lincoln's secretaries, has on several occasions entered the sanctuary of Central Woodward Church on weekdays to stand before these windows and muse upon their meaning.
For many years we have celebrated a Washington and Lincoln annual dinner in the great dining hall of the church, which has been widely publicized and largely attended. Among the Lincoln orators who have spoken on these occasions are Honorable George A. Dondero, Congressman from the Seventeenth Michigan District, an authority on the subject; Dr. Lynn Harold Hough, brilliant preacher-professor of Drew Seminary, Madison, N. J.; Dr. Louis A Warren of the Lincoln National Life Foundation, Fort.
The Emancipation Proclamation
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
That on the first day of January, in the year our our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of the States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and people thereof are not in rebellion against the United States.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of 100 days from the day first mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of the States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (ecept the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anee, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do not order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, shall recognize and maintain thee freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all cases where allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused thee seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, the first day of January, in the year of our Lord on thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
*The fourth aisle window on the "State and Government" on the west wall of the Riverside Church, New York City, depicts the Emancipation Proclamation. Also, in this same church a statue of Lincoln is in the center panel of the chancel screen. It is above and to the left of the cross and the baptistry, and is one of the larger eighteen figures depicted in this section of the screen, which has for its general theme, "Christ, the humanitarian."
