LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County History Roundtable will meet to discuss the Emancipation Proclamation next week.

The group will meet at 6:15 p.m. Monday, March 4, at 460 S. Main St. Lakeport, the home of Country Air Properties. Admission is free.

Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation is nearly universally praised as one of the greatest documents of all time. We are told it freed the slaves and changed the war aim from solely saving the Union, to also include emancipation, a life-long desire of Lincoln who only delayed doing it so as to find just the right time to pull it off.

But did the Emancipation Proclamation free the slaves? Did it free any slaves? What were the real reasons behind the Emancipation Proclamation, and why did Lincoln give the seceded states 100 days to be exempt from it? Was he looking to further the interests of black Americans, or was it a cynical attempt to achieve other goals?

Zane Jensen, who recently got his masters in history, will cover the topic "Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: What Really Was Its Purpose?" at the next Lake County History Roundtable.

Jensen will explore these and other questions related to the Emancipation Proclamation, dissecting the document paragraph by paragraph, letting the document speak for itself, and contrast that with contemporary opinions and quotes to try to put it in an appropriate historical context.

In addition to Jensen's presentation, Phil Smoley will explore "Did Southern slavery allow the North and England to end their slavery?"

This presentation will look into the great irony of the entire slave debate that the North, England, and elsewhere were only able to begin ending slavery in their own areas precisely because they were continuing to enable the practice in the American south.