Millisa Henderson

January 3, 2015
AP US History
Emancipation Proclamation
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all
persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be
free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval
authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. These are words taken
directly from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1862. For as long as I can remember, I've
been taught that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued to free slaves in the southern states during
the Civil War. To an extent this is true, but after researching the topic, it is evident that there was a
different underlying motivation. President Lincoln was completely against slavery, but, if is only
intention was to free the slaves, why was the Emancipation Proclamation issued sooner? Lincoln's
Proclamation was a turning point in the quest for abolition, but it didn't fully dissolve peculiar
institution. Other causes for the Emancipation Proclamation include Lincoln's desire to destroy the
Confederacys military, force the south back into the Union, and strengthen the Union's military by the
enlistment of freed slaves.
Lincoln even admitted that the Emancipation's main focus wasn't to free slaves. He wanted to
demoralize and crush the Confederate Army. During the Civil War, Confederate officials started
speaking to Great Britain and France about a possible alliance. The European countries needed the
south's cotton, and the south needed assistance in the war. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation, he
claimed that war was about slavery, which greatly demoralized the south because of their support of it.
Great Britain and France had already abolished slavery, and the Emancipation convinced them to not
fight along side the south in support of it.
It was also evident that Lincoln wanted to Confederacy to rejoin the Union. One hint to this
reasoning comes from the Emancipation itself. There is a list of states withing the Emancipation, and
in those states, Lincoln ordered all slave be free. The problem is that the list only contains southern
states, and at this time, Lincoln had no control over them. Union border states that allowed slavery
were not included in this list. Lincoln was afraid that if he outlawed slavery there, that those states
would also secede, only making the southern rebellion worse.
In addition to decreasing the Confederacys military power, Lincoln wanted to increase the
Unions. As soon as there was news of a war, freed slaves in the Union wanted to enlist in the Army. At
first, the government was skeptical, but by 1863, were allowed to help in the Civil War. Even slaves
who escaped from the south joined the Union army. In the army, many had to do odd jobs, and at first
only received a fraction of the pay of a white solider. Even so, there were over 200,000 African
Americans who participated in the Civil War, 40,000 who gave there lives, and 16 who received the
medal of honor.
In conclusion, the main purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation was not to free slaves, it was
to convince the Confederacy to rejoin the Union, and ruin the Confederacy's army. While Lincoln didn't
agree with slavery, he was not definitely not a forerunner in the rights of African Americans as a whole.
The Emancipation did little to help with abolition, and was mostly a ploy to help end what was one of
the bloodies wars in history.