Further it was written by Lincoln and issued under the concept (conceit?) of wartime powers as an Executive Order. The Cabinet never voted until after its issuance and it never to the best of my knowledge received any legislative blessing.
Interesting... thanks for the info. I was interested in examining how Executive Orders began and how they got to the point they are today (substitutes for the amendment ratification process). If the justification is "emergency powers" then they should be of defined duration (two years, for example) and then expire.