Emancipation Proclamation

A detailed Summary of Emancipation Proclamation

"I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races." This statement was just one of many that President Lincoln addressed to the people as his stand to the aim of the war. From the beginning of the war, President Lincoln had insisted that his primary aim was the restoration of the Union, not the abolition of slavery. However, the 1858 statement that he made about his position on slavery can be reconciled with his 1862 Emancipation Proclamation because as the war continued, Lincoln saw that the preservation of the Union depended, in part, on the destruction of slavery. The Lincoln Administration believed that if they made the abolition of slavery a war aim, they could stop Great Britain or France from recognizing the Confederacy. Both Great Britain and France had long since abolished slavery and would not support a country fighting a war to defend it. Furthermore, emancipation might allow the North to undercut the South's war effort, which was supported by slave labor.

Lincoln, and many people like him , believed that slavery was wrong, but they were not abolitionists. This was due to the fact that he, nor his counterparts, could augur an altern

The Lincoln Administration also believed that if they made the abolition of slavery a war aim, they could stop Great Britain or France from recognizing the Confederacy. Britain and France were ready to jump in on the side of the Confederacy, due to the fact that the South and not the North was where they received their materials for their textile industry. During that time, the North's textile industry was a great competitor of Europe's and putting and end to that would be a immense advantage to them. Also the ruling classes of both Britain and France were sympathetic to the Confederacy because some of them admired the supposedly aristocratic social order of the South, which they believed resembled the hierarchical structures of their own societies. Also, France was would not join the side of the Confederacy unless, Britain did so first. But as clever as Lincoln was, he knew that both Great Britain and France had both abolished slavery and fighting on the side that was in favor of the institution they found so abominable would be hypocrisy on their part. So, Lincoln also through the Emancipation Proclamation made it clear that the North was in favor of abolishing slavery, so now the European nations hands were tied and either had to side with the Union or be neutral and many picked neutrality.

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Approximate Word count = 895
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History