Top Emancipation Proclamation Facts:
1.) Lincoln actually issues the Emancipation Proclamation twice. He issued the preliminary on September 22nd, 1863, stating that if the Confederates continued the rebellion the Proclamation would go into effect on January 1st, 1863. When they continued the war, the final Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1st, 1863.
2.) Emancipation Proclamation only applied to states in rebellion. The Emancipation was an act meant to damage the Confederacy while at the same time benefiting the Union. Lincoln was careful not to lose allies with states still in the Union by taking away their slaves. He only applied the Proclamation to rebellious states, also keeping friends with "neutral" states.
3.) Lincoln's advisors did not support the Proclamation at first. Initially, Lincoln's cabinet was on the fence about the proclamation, thinking Lincoln was being rash. They were only persuaded by the president's firm conviction and the win at the Battle of Antietam.
4.) The Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the victory he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln did not publish, for his advisors thought he needed a major victory before publishing, to show the Union could enforce the Proclamation.
5.) Lincoln was demonstrating smart executive war powers of the president. The enslaved African-Americans were used to support the Confederate armies on the field and to maintain homes so more people could go away to fight in the war. Lincoln justified the proclamation there as a "fit and necessary war measure", and would be enforced under his executive powers and by that of the Executive government of the United States.
6.) The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the war. Until September of 1862, the main goal of the war to to preserve the Union and rebuild the country. However after the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing African-American slaves became a war effort and goal of the Union.
7.) The Emancipation Proclamation helped prevent foreign nations being involved in the Civil War. Some powerful nations considered supporting the American Confederacy, and after a Confederate victory were hoping to influence the Western Hemisphere to greater lengths. After the proclamation however, many were discouraged to intervene in the war of the states, and after the Battle of Antietam many were turned against helping a lost cause.
8-9.) The Emancipation Proclamation set the ground works for slaves standing up for themselves and complete racial equality. By the end of the war, many citizens were prepared for complete abolition of slavery in all the states, not just those named specifically in the Emancipation Proclamation as rebellious states. The thirteenth amendment was afterwards published on December 6th, 1865 after the end of the Civil War to reinforce freedom for slaves, which started with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
10.) Lincoln considered his Emancipation Proclamation the, "Crowning achievement of his presidency." “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper,” he declared. “If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it."
11.) Lincoln did not believe that slavery was a morral wrong.
2.) Emancipation Proclamation only applied to states in rebellion. The Emancipation was an act meant to damage the Confederacy while at the same time benefiting the Union. Lincoln was careful not to lose allies with states still in the Union by taking away their slaves. He only applied the Proclamation to rebellious states, also keeping friends with "neutral" states.
3.) Lincoln's advisors did not support the Proclamation at first. Initially, Lincoln's cabinet was on the fence about the proclamation, thinking Lincoln was being rash. They were only persuaded by the president's firm conviction and the win at the Battle of Antietam.
4.) The Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the victory he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln did not publish, for his advisors thought he needed a major victory before publishing, to show the Union could enforce the Proclamation.
5.) Lincoln was demonstrating smart executive war powers of the president. The enslaved African-Americans were used to support the Confederate armies on the field and to maintain homes so more people could go away to fight in the war. Lincoln justified the proclamation there as a "fit and necessary war measure", and would be enforced under his executive powers and by that of the Executive government of the United States.
6.) The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the war. Until September of 1862, the main goal of the war to to preserve the Union and rebuild the country. However after the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing African-American slaves became a war effort and goal of the Union.
7.) The Emancipation Proclamation helped prevent foreign nations being involved in the Civil War. Some powerful nations considered supporting the American Confederacy, and after a Confederate victory were hoping to influence the Western Hemisphere to greater lengths. After the proclamation however, many were discouraged to intervene in the war of the states, and after the Battle of Antietam many were turned against helping a lost cause.
8-9.) The Emancipation Proclamation set the ground works for slaves standing up for themselves and complete racial equality. By the end of the war, many citizens were prepared for complete abolition of slavery in all the states, not just those named specifically in the Emancipation Proclamation as rebellious states. The thirteenth amendment was afterwards published on December 6th, 1865 after the end of the Civil War to reinforce freedom for slaves, which started with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
10.) Lincoln considered his Emancipation Proclamation the, "Crowning achievement of his presidency." “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper,” he declared. “If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it."
11.) Lincoln did not believe that slavery was a morral wrong.