 One of my absolute favorite documents at the National Archives is a letter written by Annie Davis to President Abraham Lincoln in August of 1864. Davis was an enslaved woman who wrote to the most powerful man in the country asking for his advice. She had heard of the Emancipation Proclamation and how it had freed others. She wanted to know if she too was free. She begins the letter, it is my desire to be free. The courage that she exhibited in this letter is truly inspiring.