Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation

 

 

What is the Emancipation Proclamation?

 

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order and presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln that changed the legal status of over 3.5 million enslaved people in the Confederate states from enslaved to free during the American Civil War.

 

When did the Emancipation Proclamation Happen?

 

The Emancipation Proclamation took place on January 1rst, 1863. This was also the same year that the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the biggest battles of the Civil War, took place.

 

What Led Up to the Emancipation Proclamation?

 

The abolitionist movement in the United States had been growing stronger for years leading up to the Civil War. Lincoln himself passionately hated slavery and wanted to see it done away with. In 1860, the southern states started succeeding from the Union and formed their own country, called the Confederate States of America. The Civil War broke out on April 12^th, 1861.

                                                        

As the war began, many abolitionists and supporters of the Union started calling for Lincoln to do something more aggressive to free the slaves of the southern states. So, he responded with the Emancipation Proclamation.

 

The Emancipation Proclamation was not just an attempt to free all of the slaves in the Confederate states, it was also an attempt to weaken the economy and the general strength of the Confederacy.

 

Consequences of the Emancipation Proclamation

 

The Emancipation Proclamation had many profound consequences. The first was that it showed that the Union army and the northern states were not only interested in preserving the Union, but also in liberating colored people from slavery. The second was that made it possible for any slave in the southern states to achieve freedom by fleeing across the Union line, many of whom did. It also made it possible for former slaves to fight in the Union army. Roughly 170,000 colored men would eventually serve in the Union army. This made up about 10 percent of the entire army.

 

The Emancipation Proclamation also cemented Abraham Lincoln’s status as one of the key men who was responsible for abolishing the wicked practice of slavery in America. However, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all the slaves of America, only those in the southern states. Some key border states such as Kentucky and Maryland that were loyal to the Union still had slavery during the Civil War.

 

But, the Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which abolished slavery throughout the entire United States. The 13^th Amendment was passed on January 31rst, 1865.

 

 

Key Text From the Emancipation Proclamation

 

One of the most important passages in the Emancipation Proclamation was:

 

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, 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; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”