Cabinet in session. Discussion of previous day on slavery continues. President reads first draft of Emancipation Proclamation, to become effective January 1, 1863, and at Secretary of State William H. Seward's suggestion agrees to withhold announcement until a military victory is obtained. Salmon P. Chase, Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Compiled by Samuel H. Dodson, American Historical Association, Annual Report for the Year 1902, vol. 2 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903); Randall, Lincoln, 2:155; Emancipation Proclamation—First Draft, [22 July 1862], CW, 5:336-38.

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton favors decisive blow to slavery as an all-important war measure over opposition to Lincoln and cabinet. Flower, Stanton, 185.

The efficiency of Gen. McClellan is talked over in cabinet. Flower, Stanton, 172.

Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase consults with President and urges McClellan's removal. Note, 22 July 1862, George B. McClellan Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

General Randolph B. Marcy confers with President and Secretary of War Stanton before returning to James River camp. Evening Star (Washington, DC), 23 July 1862, 2d ed., 2:2.

By order of President, Secretary of War Stanton issues Executive Order providing: 1. Military commanders may seize and use real or personal property in rebel States for military purposes. 2. Military and naval commanders may employ as laborers persons of African descent, giving them reasonable wages for their labors. 3. Accounts of property of all kinds taken from owners shall be kept as basis for proper compensation. National Intelligencer, 16 August 1862.

President grants Secretary of War Stanton "liberty to take the proper steps" to enroll militia of the several states and to draft men therefrom to fill old regiments. Abraham Lincoln to Edwin M. Stanton, 22 July 1862, CW, 5:338-39.