ABSTRACT
Abraham Lincoln encountered strong resistance from many members of his home state of Illinois after issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Many newspapers were political in their coverage. Republican and Democratic newspapers wrote and presented their news from a partisan point of view. Lincoln announced his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1863, and unleashed a firestorm of controversy. The Register turned the coming election into a citizen's choice on whether one was for or against the Emancipation Proclamation. The Register wrote these words the day after the Democratic state legislature released their resolution condemning the Emancipation Proclamation. The Journal also portrayed Lincoln as consistent. On October 6, the Journal wrote a story that defended Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation as being consistent with his beliefs. The Journal was a strong proponent of the Emancipation Proclamation, but heralded it more as a means to end the war than as a moral document.
