Video: Aug 20, 1862 (at 38:41)

(Wednesday, August 20, 1862, during the American Civil War) — Republican editor Horace Greeley of the highly influential New York Tribune published a famous editorial today entitled “The Prayer of Twenty Millions,” demanding a more aggressive attack on the Confederacy and faster emancipation of the slaves by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

Unknown to Greeley, Lincoln had already drafted a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which he had determined to issue after the next Union military victory.