WC 94-532 The Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln

The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. In a single stroke, it changed the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved persons in the designated areas of the South from "slave" to "free." It had the practical effect that as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave became legally free. Eventually it reached and liberated all of the designated slaves. It was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion. Because it was issued under the President's war powers, it necessarily excluded areas not in rebellion - it applied to more than 3 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time.

The Emancipation Proclamation outraged white Southerners (and their sympathizers), angered some Northern Democrats, energized anti-slavery forces and undermined forces in Europe that wanted to intervene to help the Confederacy.  Source: Wikipedia

This postcard came from Megan J. (14 August 2015) Swap-bot.

RU-3926600 Cross Procession during the consecration of the Church of the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God

A commission created in the years 1894-1895 to mark the tercentenary of the rule of the Romanov Dynasty in 1913 approached Tsar Alexander III for guidance about the possibility of building a public worship site close to the Moscow railway station in St Petersburg.  The intention was to commemorate the many significant deeds marking the rule of the Imperial Family during the centuries. Tsar Alexander responded by suggesting that instead a church should be built on that location. The church was inaugurated in January 1914 by Tsar Nicholas II in the presence of members of the Imperial Family.

The church was virtually demolished by the bolsheviks during the following 70 years, and therefore ceased to exist as a place of worship.

This postcard shows the Cross Procession during the consecration of the Upper Church.  Tsar Nicolas II in the photograph is located behind the clergy.

This postcard came from Elena (26 August 2015) Postcrossing.