The Hand That Trembled for Freedom

On the morning of January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln shook hands for three hours at the traditional New Year's Day reception in the White House. Diplomats, officers, and citizens filed past in an endless procession. By midday, his right arm ached and his fingers were numb. Yet the most important work of his presidency still waited upstairs.

That afternoon, Lincoln climbed to his study on the second floor, where Secretary of State William Seward and his son Frederick had placed the engrossed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation on his desk. Lincoln picked up his pen, then paused. His hand was shaking. He set the pen down, not from doubt but from exhaustion. "If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act," he said, "and my whole soul is in it." He waited until the trembling stopped, then signed his full name in a firm, clear hand — not the usual "A. Lincoln," but "Abraham Lincoln" — because, he said, he did not want anyone to think he had hesitated.

With that signature, over three million enslaved people were declared "thenceforward, and forever free."

Centuries before that pen touched paper, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed the heart of God: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim liberty to the captives." What Lincoln enacted in law, the Almighty had already written into the very fabric of His character. God is not indifferent to chains. Every act of true liberation on earth is an echo of heaven's oldest intention — that the bound shall be set free.