James Oakes: Did the Real War Ever Get in the Books?

James Oakes, CUNY Graduate Center
Civil War @ 150: Did the Real War Ever Get in the Books?
CUNY Graduate Center
February 3, 2011

In his twenty minute presentation, historian James Oakes counters revisionist interpretations that claim the North did not go to war to end slavery. Historians have often viewed the Emancipation Proclamation as the point in the Civil War when it changed from being a war for union to a war for emancipation, but Professor Oakes argues for the need to examine the pre-war origins of the proclamation. This talk was part of the public seminar: Did the Real War Ever Get in the Books?