Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

Actor David Selby, and history professor Edna Greene Medford, join Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III for a discussion about “Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation.”

Selby, who has played Abraham Lincoln in many productions, finds Lincoln an “accessible” character. The Heavens Are Hung in Black is set in 1862, following the death of Lincoln’s son Willie and amid the horrors of the Civil War. “Every force is pulling against” Lincoln during the five months depicted in the play, Selby says. “He had the strength of his personal conviction to keep steady, to keep the road.” The Emancipation Proclamation, the first part of which was signed on September 22, 1862, committed the Union to free the slaves. The thirteenth amendment of the Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865.

Medford finds herself drawn to Lincoln for his complexity. Lincoln thought at first that the Civil War was about preserving the Union. “But of course, as the war dragged on, he realized that he had to do something about the South’s institution, because the South was using enslaved labor to great advantage,” Medford says.

“By the summer of 1862, he’s already moving in the direction of finding a way to emancipate enslaved people,” she continues. Although Lincoln hated slavery, he recognized that the slaves were considered property and thus protected under the Constitution. “He did eventually find a way, by using the War Powers clause in the Constitution,” Medford explains. The clause enabled the president, as commander in chief, to quell rebellion by destroying property—in this case, by freeing humans held as property.

In 1860, according to Medford, African Americans were wary of Lincoln. The Emancipation Proclamation made them “ecstatic,” she says. Many African Americans thought that the proclamation went beyond a promise of freedom in the limited number of states it could constitutionally cover. They “believed it was also about equality and full citizenship,” Medford says. This belief was not realized for decades.

Medford expresses the view that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation not only to preserve the Union but also “because it was the right thing to do.... He talks about doing this as an act of justice, as well as military necessity.” After the proclamation, slaves left their owners, depriving the Confederacy of labor; as what might now be called a force multiplier, many fought for the Union.

Selby relates several of Lincoln’s humorous stories. In one, the president sets his hat down on an adjacent seat in a theater. A lady comes along and sits on the hat, squashing it. Lincoln says, “Madam, I could have told you the hat wouldn’t fit before you tried it on.”

David Selby’s long stage, television, and film career includes the Broadway productions The Heiress and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, the television series Dark Shadows and Falcon Crest, and the films Up the Sandbox, Dying Young, and White Squall. In addition to acting, he is an accomplished playwright and novelist, whose most recent book is Lincoln’s Better Angel. Selby stars as Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre’s world premiere of The Heavens Are Hung in Black, a drama about the challenges Lincoln faced in 1862.

Edna Greene Medford is associate professor of history at Howard University, specializing in nineteenth-century history and the African-American experience, including the Jacksonian Era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. A member of the executive committee of the Lincoln Forum and the Educational Advisory Council of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, she recently received the state of Illinois’s highest honor for her work in Lincoln studies. Her publications include The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views (co-authored with Harold Holzer and the Honorable Frank Williams).

About David Selby

David Selby’s long stage, television, and film career includes the Broadway productions The Heiress and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, the television series Dark Shadows and Falcon Crest, and the films Up the Sandbox, Dying Young, and White Squall. In addition to acting, he is an accomplished playwright and novelist, whose most recent book is Lincoln’s Better Angel. Selby stars as Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre’s world premiere of The Heavens Are Hung in Black, a drama about the challenges Lincoln faced in 1862.

About Edna Greene Medford

Edna Greene Medford is Associate Professor of History at Howard University, specializing in 19th century history and the African American experience, including the Jacksonian Era, the Civil War and Reconstruction. A member of the Executive Committee of the Lincoln Forum and the Educational Advisory Council of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, she recently received the state of Illinois’ highest honor for her work in Lincoln Studies. Her publications include The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views (co-authored with Harold Holzer and the Honorable Frank Williams).