George Boutwell and the Emancipation Proclamation
Sunday, June 19, 2022 at 2:00PM
The Groton Center, 163 West Main Street, Groton, MA 01450
The Groton History Center invites you to join Jeffrey Boutwell will return to Groton and speak about George Boutwell’s role in ending slavery.
This free presentation in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday and the abolition of slavery is made possible by the Commissioners of Trust Funds. All are invited.
In the spring and summer of 1862, George Boutwell was Abraham Lincoln’s point man in advocating for emancipation, both as a moral duty and a military necessity, at a time when the President had to be cautious about getting ahead of public opinion. (author’s website)
George Boutwell’s voice, the voice that made Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation a reality by stating publicly (after the Battle of Antietam in 1862) what the president for political reasons couldn’t yet say: that the Civil War would not be won until we “take slavery by the throat and destroy it.”
Indeed, as writer, historian, and science policy specialist Jeffrey Boutwell puts it, “For seven decades, George Boutwell sought to “redeem America’s promise” through racial equality, economic equity, and the humane use of American power abroad.”
