Emancipation Proclamation

•AbolitionistsAbolitionists pressured Lincoln to free the slaves.

•After the Battle of AntietamBattle of Antietam, he announced that the slaves

would be freed. •Became effective on Jan. 1, 1863, in those states still in

rebellionrebellion.

•Emancipation ProclamationEmancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in US

•Lincoln’s “first”“first” step towards ending slavery. •“Final step” 13th Amendment13th Amendment to the Constitution

on Dec. 1865 would legally and constitutionally abolish slavery.

September 1862

September 1862 – Preliminary Proclamation

• Lincoln waited for a Union Victory• A tactic of war• Invitation to the Confederacy to lay

down its arms before January 1, 1863

if they wanted to keep slavery

JANUARY 1, 1863• Largely a symbolic act• DID NOT immediately free a Single slave• DID NOT go beyond steps already

taken to free slaves as the Union Army advanced.– “...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...”

– “...such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States...”

• The Emancipation Proclamation actually freed no slaves, the freedom it promised depended upon a military victory.– Did not apply to slaves in border states fighting

on the Union side– Did not affect slaves in southern areas already

under Union control – The states in rebellion did not act on Lincoln's

order– However, it encouraged slaves to run away, to

join the Union army– Prevented England and France from supporting

the Confederacy

The Emancipation Proclamation changed the very nature of the war, giving it a completely new objective

• Conciliation was no longer an option

– The North was now not merely fighting to restore a union it thought was never legitimately separated. It was fighting for freedom of a race.

• Kept Great Britain from siding with the South

and becoming an

ally.

War was now a war toWar was now a war to •abolish slaveryabolish slavery

•destroy the Southdestroy the South • preserve the Unionpreserve the Union

The South was no longer fighting merely for independence. It was fighting for survival of its way of life.

Reaction to Emancipation Proclamation

Border States• Lincoln went too far• Desertion increased sharply

Reaction to Emancipation Proclamation

Abolitionist• Did not go far enough• Greeley and Douglass were pleased

with it

Reaction to Emancipation Proclamation

South• Lincoln trying to stir up slave

revolts• Eleven days after Lincoln signed the Emancipation

Proclamation, Davis told the Southern Congress that the document was "the most execrable measure in the history of guilty man." He said Union officers captured at the head of black troops would be turned over to state governments to be punished as "criminals engaged in inciting servile insurrection"; the penalty for this crime would, of course, be execution. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard recommended the summary execution of Union officers of black units, and "let the execution be with the garrote."

Jefferson Davislabeled REBELLION on chain.

Defeatedseated figure with small hammer labeled COMPROMISE.

Henry W. Halleckwields mallet labeled SKILL.

George McClellanwields mallet labeled STRATEGY.

Edwin M. Stantonholds mallet labeled DRAFT.

Lincolnshoulders an axe labeled EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.

Europe• European Aristocrats sympathized

with slaveholders• Working class thought proclamation

great

Diplomatic conditions improve with European countries.

• The Emancipation Proclamation made it virtually impossible for the French and British to support the South because England had abolished slavery in 1833 and France in 1848

• CIVIL WAR NOW BECOMES A MORAL CRUSADE

(south’s moral cause is weakened)