Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, signed in 1863 at the height of the Civil War, represented a fundamental change in his thinking about freedom, and began a process that ultimately brought an end to slavery in the United States. In the following year, on September 7, 1864, a delegation “of the loyal colored people of Baltimore” arrived at the White House to give a Bible to Abraham Lincoln. “Mr. President,” they said, “. . .we come to present to you this copy of the Holy Scriptures, as