Emancipation Proclamation Research Paper

Zeph Page

Mrs Hodges

March 29, 2018 Abraham Lincoln framed the situation as a concerning the preservation of the Union rather than to end slavery. Although he looked for the practice of slavery abhorrent, he knew that neither that people from the north nor the people of the border slave states would agree abolition as a war aim. But by mid-1862, as thousands of slaves left to join the invading Northern armies, Lincoln was convinced that abolition had become a urgent military strategy, as well as the morally correct path. On September 22, soon after the north’s victory at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, …show more content…
Although he held out for a while, thinking of his Constitutional commitments, it was clear by the middle of 1862 that he was in danger of losing his Republican support if he did nothing. At this point in time, the North was undergoing its worst period of the war, with some defeats during July and August.

This made some people stronger to the hand of those who argued that emancipation was vital from a military standpoint, in that it would drain away part of the Confederate labor force and add it to that of the Union. In July, further acts freed rebels’ slaves and allowed those freed slaves to serve in the Union army the President had by now set his sights on an outright emancipation of slaves in any state fighting against the United States.

Although his cabinet was persuaded by the strategic arguments in favor of the plan, William H. Seward, the Secretary of State, convinced Lincoln to hold back until it could be announced in the wake of a significant military victory. This moment would come with the highly significant – though costly – Union victory at Antietam. In the meantime, Lincoln tried to convince conservatives of what needed to be done in order to save the Union.’’(totally

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