Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order made by President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65) on January 1, 1863. It granted freedom to slaves within the rebelling Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–65). It signaled an important shift in federal policy on slavery and gave a significant advantage to Union troops. Although it originally limited the abolition of slavery to rebelling territories, it set the tone for complete abolition throughout the entire Union.

The politics of slavery

Issues surrounding the institution of slavery dominated American politics for many years before the Civil War. Debates between politicians were passionate. Lincoln and the Republican Party hoped to prevent the expansion of slavery into new territories. White slavers in the Southern states, where the Democratic Party ruled, feared complete abolition of slavery by the federal government, which was controlled by the Republican Party.

Lincoln's intention, however, was not to interfere with slavery where it already existed. He hoped for gradual emancipation, voluntarily accepted by the Southern states, with federal compensation to slaveholders for loss of their slaves, who were considered property in American society. Because the institution of slavery was protected in the U.S. Constitution , Lincoln felt obligated to recognize its legal status.

When the Southern states seceded, or separated, from the Union in early 1861, Lincoln focused his efforts on restoring the United States. Lincoln would have supported slavery in whatever form necessary to maintain the Union. When the Civil War erupted in April 1861, it was called a battle between the power of the federal government and the rights of individual states. It was not considered to be a war over slavery.

All but four slavery states seceded from the Union in 1861. Missouri , Kentucky , Maryland , and Delaware maintained their loyalty to and membership in the United States. To hold onto those states during the Civil War, Lincoln had to be especially careful about how he handled slavery. Fearing that more states might secede and that the Republicans and the remaining Union Democrats might split apart,

Lincoln at first refrained from linking the war with the abolition of slavery. A change in this policy came only with the need to boost the Union's military efforts.

Changing course

There were several factors that led Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The strategic value of freeing slaves in rebelling territories became obvious over time. Slavery was an important asset for the South, because it enabled Southern whites to devote themselves to fighting. Black slaves supported Confederate efforts by maintaining Southern farms, munitions factories, and fortifications for the Confederate Army. Although slaves were not permitted to fight on the front lines, their efforts were essential to Confederate success.

Federal laws demanded that slaves be returned to their owners, so Union soldiers were required to return runaways to the enemy. This put the Union Army in the position of returning Confederate manpower, effectively supporting the other side. Limited emancipation would allow Confederate slaves to escape as Union troops advanced, freeing the slaves to take up arms against the Confederates rather than being returned to their owners. Emancipation also might discourage foreign powers from taking up arms alongside the Confederate forces if the Southern cause became directly associated with slavery.

Despite the incentives to declare emancipation, Lincoln did not take action lightly or quickly. He quietly began to work on the proclamation in June 1862, sharing it with his cabinet officials in July. After hearing their suggestions, he decided to wait awhile before announcing his intentions to the public. Union troops had been suffering losses, and Lincoln did not want to appear to be acting in desperation. Lincoln refrained from public discussion of emancipation until the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862.

On September 22, 1862, Lincoln publicly announced his plan for the Emancipation Proclamation. Threatening the South, Lincoln said he would take action to free slaves in rebelling states unless the states returned to the Union by the end of the year. By giving the Confederate states a time line, he gave them a chance to preserve the institution of slavery, leaving the matter up to them. The rebelling states ignored Lincoln, and slaves remained in bondage.

As promised, Lincoln issued the final version of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. As hoped, the order boosted Northern prospects for winning the war. It undercut support for Confederate independence by transforming the war into a moral crusade. Foreign powers refrained from supporting the Confederate government, and internal national support for the Union effort was rekindled. With the invitation for free blacks and newly freed slaves to join the Union efforts, more than 190,000 African American men enlisted in the Union Army.

The Emancipation Proclamation cleared the path to abolish slavery entirely if the Union won the Civil War, which it did in April 1865. On December 18, 1865, slavery was officially ended in America by ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.