Reading your proclaim nation I note this--
"and no part of said sum to be paid unless all resistance to the national authority shall be abandoned and cease, on or before the first day of April next; and upon such abandonment and ceasing of resistance, one half of said sum to be paid in manner aforesaid, and the remaining half to be paid only upon the amendment of the national Constitution recently proposed by Congress, becoming valid law, on or before the first day of July next, by the action thereon of the requisite number of States"
I see this as another reason the war WAS NOT about slavery as the Confederacy continued to resist. That brings to mind this question, In Feb of '65 the Confederacy was facing certain defeat, why would Lincoln make such an offer then??? Surely he knew how the war was going.
Also I am assuming that since the war was not about slavery, the Confederacy would have viewed such an offer as volunteering to submit to Federal rule if the Feds had approved it. Am I correct???
Thanks,
GP