Lincoln had sent his first annual message…

Lincoln had sent his first annual message to Congress (the State of the Union Address, but then typically given in writing and not referred to as such) in December 1861.

In it he praises the free labor system, as respecting human rights over property rights; he endorses legislation to address the status of contraband slaves and slaves in loyal states, possibly through buying their freedom with federal taxes, and also the funding of strictly voluntary colonization efforts.

In January 1862, Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican leader in the House, calls for total war against the rebellion to include emancipation of slaves, arguing that emancipation, by forcing the loss of enslaved labor, will ruin the rebel economy.