Who freed the slaves?
Did Abraham Lincoln really free the slaves?
Licoln did not free the slaves
Many people think that Lincoln freed the slaves, but he really didn't. Sure he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, but that's all he did. The real reason why slaves were freed was because the North was losing the war, and because Lincoln wanted the Union to come together.
Lincoln only created the Emancipation Proclaimation to get more soldiers
In 1862 the North was losing the war. It was said that "the North is having great trouble winning the war...Lincoln finds it increasingly hard to get new recruits to fight." Since the North was losing and the slaves were "freeing themselves [already] simply by running into the northern armies," -even though they could not actually fight- Lincoln had to find a way to use these runaway slaves to his benefit. Lincoln put into the Emancipation Proclamation that "such persons [free slaves]will be received into the armed service of the United States." This really helped the North in the war in getting more soldiers. This proves that Lincoln only wrote the Emancipation Proclamation to get more soldiers so he could win the war.
Evidence that proves my case
The slaves were freed just to bring the Union back together and get support
Lincoln says that "the war was not about slavery or black rights; it was a war to preserve the Union." He says this because if he had admitted that it was about fighting for rights for the slaves, then he would lose more states to the South. This was his way of keeping what little support that he had at the time. He is also afraid that "if he freed the slaves, the 20,000 Kentuckians fighting for the North would go over to the South." Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation because if he freed the slaves in the South then the North states would stay with him. He even got the support of the English and French.
The Emancipation Proclamation only granted freedom to slaves in certain states.
When the Empancipation Proclamation was announced in September 1862 it was said that "It will 'free' all the slaves in the states and portions of states 'under rebellion,' but will not free slaves in the areas under Union control..." This means that even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves, it did not free slaves everywhere. Lincoln only freed the slaves in the South and not in the North. Since Lincoln was in the North, his part of the country still had slaves which says that he was not really against slavery.