The Emancipation Proclamation

You probably know that the Emancipation Proclamation help free the slaves but there are some facts that you might not know about this document.  First, I bet you didn’t know that it was written twice.  The first Emancipation Proclamation was issued on September 22, 1862, it stated that if the southern state didn’t stop their rebellion by the first of January the proclamation would be issued.  When this didn’t work Abraham Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, January 1st, 1863.  One of the misconceptions of the Emancipation Proclamation is that it automatically freed all of the slaves but that is not the case.  The Emancipation Proclamation was just in place to get rebellion southern states to stop their fight for slavery.

The cabinet didn’t think that the Emancipation Proclamation was the right thing for President Lincoln to do some of them thought it was too radical.  It was because of President Lincoln’s strong commitment and their victory in Antietam that finally pushed the cabinet to support it.  The Union’s victory in Antietam made it necessary for the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation.  President Lincoln used the Emancipation Proclamation to demonstrate his executive war power for the Confederacy.  The Union army used slaves to help them with the war, they used them to help on the home front, which allows more people to go off to war and fight.  After the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation the war shifted to freeing the slaves instead of preserving the Union.  This also helped prevent foreign nations from fighting in the Civil War.  Most of Europe supported the Confederacy.  It was issued after the Confederacy was seen as a lost cause after the battle of Antietam.

After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued it gave African Americans the right to fight for their own freedom.  They established the USCT or United States Colored Troops, which had over two hundred thousand African American who served the Union. The Emancipation Proclamation was one of the first steps taken to abolish slavery in the United States.  Even though, the proclamation only freed slaves from rebellious states, it paved the way for citizens to be prepared for the abolishment of the North and South.  It wasn’t until December of 1865, when the 13th Amendment was signed that slavery was abolished.  Out of everything that President Lincoln did in office, he considered the Emancipation Proclamation to be his highest achievement as president.