In his next annual message, however, President Lincoln did not discuss the Emancipation Proclamation, but he renewed his argument for compensated emancipation. On December 11, 1862, George H. Yeaman of Kentucky introduced in the House of Representatives a resolution dubbing the President's proclamation as unwarranted by the Constitution and a useless and dangerous war message. This resolution was tabled by a vote of ninety-four to forty-five. Four days later Representative S. C. Fessenden of Maine, on the contrary, offered a resolution putting into affirmative form the identical phraseology of Mr. Yeaman's proposition, and secured its passage by a test vote of seventy-eight to fifty-four. No other action of consequence then followed except a manifestation of interest in compensated emancipation in Missouri. At a cabinet meeting on the last day of December, 1862, Lincoln read the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation and invited criticism. He made some revision of a minor nature but rejected the proposal to eliminate from the order the provision that the freedmen be armed. In this form the Proclamation was issued the following day, January 1, 1863. The constitutionality of this document has been questioned. It is conceded, however, that it did actually abolish slavery within the rebellious area and as a moral stimulus to the struggle for freedom, it proved to be of great value. HARRY S. BLACKISTON FOOTNOTES: [1] Edwards, _History of Illinois_, 179. [2] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, I, 72; W. H. Lamon, _Life of Abraham Lincoln_, 83. [3] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, I, 15, 140, 151, 642. [4] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, I, 148, 285-288. [5] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, I, 286. [6] _Ibid._, I, 373, 375, 380-390. [7] _Ibid._, I, pp. 391, 392. [8] Nicolay and Hay, II, 85, 89. [9] Nicolay and Hay, II, 136-138, 143. [10] Nicolay and Hay, II, 137, 156, 157; _Lincoln-Douglass Debates_, p. 8. [11] Nicolay and Hay, II, pp. 75, 147. [12] _Ibid._, II, p. 149. [13] Nicolay and Hay, II, 156, 157, 216. [14] Murat Halstead, _Conventions of 1860_, 6. [15] _Ibid._, 7. [16] Nicolay and Hay, II, 255. [17] Nicolay and Hay, II, 287, 382. [18] Rhodes, _United States_, III, p. 357. [19] Burgess, _Civil War_, II, p. 76. [20] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, IV, 416-420; V, p. 211. [21] Burgess, _Civil War_, II, 79-80. [22] Nicolay and Hay, V, 206. [23] Nicolay and Hay, V, 207. [24] Dodge, _View_, chap. xi. [25] Nicolay and Hay, V, p. 209. [26] McPherson, _History of the Rebellion_, p. 210. [27] Nicolay and Hay, V, 214. [28] _Ibid._, VI, p. 90. [29] Nicolay and Hay, VI, 94-96. [30] _Ibid._, VI, 97. [31] Nicolay and Hay, VI, 99-100. [32] Nicolay and Hay, VI, 103. [33] _Ibid._, VI, 107. [34] _Ibid._, VI, pp. 109-111. [35] King, _New Orleans_, ch. xiii. [36] Dodge, _View_, ch. x. [37] Nicolay and Hay, VI, p. 121. [38] _Ibid._, VI, pp. 123-124.