Abraham Lincoln 's Emancipation Proclamation

During the Abraham Lincoln’s short time as president, he managed not only to save a nation deeply divided and at war with itself, but to solidify the United States of America as a nation dedicated to the progress of civil rights. Years after his death, he was awarded the title of ‘The Great Emancipator.’ In this paper, I will examine many different aspects of Lincoln’s presidency in order to come to a conclusion: whether this title bestowed unto Lincoln was deserved, or not. In order to fully understand Lincoln, it is necessary to understand the motives that drove this man to action. While some of his intentions may not have been for the welfare of slaves, but for the preservation of the Union,

January 1, 1836 abe Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. There for no slave will be forced to work for a white man again. After that happened a bloody civil war broke out for three years.

When the Civil War began in 1861, the issue of slavery was not the central focus of the war effort on the side of the Union. While it was still important to many in the North, the main war aim of the Union side was to preserve the Union and make sure it remained intact. As the war dragged on and more soldiers died on both sides, Lincoln realized he would need to entirely cripple the already weak Confederate economy, and he did this by making the Emancipation Proclamation, which became effective January 1, 1863. This executive order stated that all slaves in states currently in open rebellion against the United States were free from slavery. By doing this, he caused African Americans in slave states to cross into Union territory and into

One September 22, 1862, the president of the Union, Abraham Lincoln, proposed the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. If I was one of his advisors I would have encouraged Lincoln to propose this Emancipation because it is a necessity to pass it in order to preserve the Union. Through threatening the South’s life style, this will help define the Union’s perception and position of the war: freeing the slaves and preserving the union. This also makes it seem that the North is fighting for a significant moral and human cause. I would have also recommended that because this would have been a good war strategy. By emancipating all the slaves in the rebellion states, this would have crippled the Confederate army. The south army depended on slaves to aid in war efforts.

1) What is the Emancipation Proclamation? When is Baldwin’s letter written and what is the significance of the timing of his letter (specifically: what is the situation of African Americans at the time Baldwin wrote the letter?)

The Proclamation had played significant roles, as Eric Foner, states in his book that it “not only culminated decades of struggle, but evoked Christian visions of an era of unbounded progress for a nation purged at last of the sin of slavery.” In Jim Cullen’s essay document, he states that it “opened the floodgates for black enlistment.” Foner as well states that “first time in American history, large numbers of blacks were treated as equals before the law,” having the Proclamation a successful issue by the President.

Third the Emancipation, the North saw that the light at the end of the tunnel seemed dim and needed to act promptly, if they wanted to win the war and restore the union. So, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This piece of legislation was enacted to free the slaves in the confederate states and encouraged the slaves to flee in large numbers to the union border lines. This affected the contribution of the war on the confederate states by taking their laborers (Dunning

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln believed that the Union could not survive whilst divided on the subject of slavery. Revered by numerous historians, Lincoln’s actions throughout the Civil War created social and political change that would bring the United States of America into a new era of social and cultural reform. In attempt to abolish slavery and weaken the Confederacy, the Emancipation Proclamation redefined the objectives of the Civil War. While successful in gradually abolishing the institution of slavery in the southern states, the Emancipation Proclamation failed to extinguish racial discriminations against the newly freed African-Americans. Indeed, progress had been made, but by using intimidation

After military victories in early 1862, Northern armies suffered in July and August 1862. The argument on the emancipation being used as a military war effort became extremely pressuring and convincing. It would weaken the Confederacy but strengthen the Union by drawing off part of the Southern labor force and increasing the labor force on the Northern side. In July 1862 Congress enacted two laws based on the argument that a second confiscation act that freed slaves of persons who were in rebellion against the United States, and a militia act that empowered the president to use freed slaves in the army he saw fit for everyone.

The Emancipation Proclamation is centered on the concept of freeing the slaves; however, the proclamation did not actually free any slaves but had a greater goal of preserving the Union through European alliance. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in Union controlled lands but instead freed the slaves where the federal government had no real power. At his inauguration, Lincoln even stated that he has “no lawful right [to] interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it [already] exists.” Furthermore, Lincoln revealed, in a letter to Horace Greeley that slavery is not even a primary focus of his political agenda when he stated “my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery.” This letter also emphasizes Lincoln’s chief interest during the American Civil War – to maintain the Union. Therefore, Lincoln himself indicated that the Emancipation Proclamation’s purpose was to preserve the Union by successfully aiding in closing the door to European intervention in the South.

After the Civil War the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. The first paragraph of the Emancipation Proclamation states, "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. ”

President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st in 1863 announcing that all people held as slaves shall be free. Lincoln hoped to inspire all blacks and slaves in the Confederacy even though the proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. While the freedom was promised depended upon the Union military victory. The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation but shaped the reasoning for war. Approximately 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for freedom and the Union. This confirmed the battle a war for freedom. For all that the Emancipation Proclamation did for freedom, it is now taken place among the great documents of human freedom.

The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second order, issued January 1, 1863, named ten specific states where it would apply. Lincoln issued the Executive Order by his authority as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" under Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution. Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all the slaves, but it kept critical border states from seceding and it

On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, issued the first, or preliminary, Emancipation Proclamation. In this document he warned that unless the states of the Confederacy returned to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves to be “forever free.” During the Civil War, he was fighting to save the Union and trying not to free the slaves. Lincoln was quoted to say, “I am not, nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” The Emancipation Proclamation illustrated this view.

The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 infused the Union war effort with South. Two years later, Congress enacted and the states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery throughout the nation. Although the Lincoln administration at first insisted that the preservation of the Union, not the abolition of slavery, was its objective, slaves quickly seized the opportunity to strike for their freedom.