The Emancipation Proclamation
The Road to Freedom
What was it?
- Lincoln issued this document January 1, 1863, with the intent to cripple the south and free the slaves but he had to remember to respect the border states that had stayed neutral and so the slaves in the border states remained slaves.
- At first Lincolns own cabinet did not support the idea of this emancipation saying that it was to extreme of a measure but it was because of Lincolns strong stance that it passed through congress
- Congress decided to wait for a union victory to pass the emancipation to show that they could enforce this proclamation. When they won the battle of Antietam they knew it was the time to pass the emancipation.
- With this proclamation it changed the focus of the war from preserving the union to now fighting for freedom for slaves.
- The emancipation paved the way to letting colored men fight in the army. Lincoln himself had declared that "African Americans of suitable condition would be received into the armed forces".