Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

The Civil War ended in 1865 leaving the south disappointed and angry. The Union decided to help the south get back on their feet and have equal rights. Since the Emancipation Proclamation was put in place, the South was not allowed to own slaves. This took a big part of their economy away, so many were displeased. While the Emancipation Proclamation provided hope for former slaves, the KKK and lack of resources ultimately ended in social and economic inequality for African Americans.

For years slavery was an issue but when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued some issues “resolved.” When this freedom statement was being issued to the Union and the Confederacy many slaves gained freedom and were allowed to fight. The Emancipation Proclamation impacted the war greatly due to the freeing of many slaves.

June 22, 1865 marked the end of the Civil War of the United States. Slavery had been practiced in North America since the colonial days. It was more common in the southern region of the United States, where most of the plantations were located. They needed slaves to help gather cotton and other plantation crops. The North was an industrial area, so they had less of a need for raw manpower than the South. Eventually, the North started fighting for the rights of slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation was announced by President Abraham Lincoln. The end of the Civil War brought about the final end to slavery in the United States, weakened the South, and lead to the death of Abraham Lincoln.

After the proclamation that established the end of slavery was signed and that this could not happen again, three amendments to the Constitution were adopted to clarify what the new status meant for former slaves, descendants of Africans and other races, including some whites who had been under forced servitude. Known as the Reconstruction amendments are 13, 14 and 15 respectively, which grant equal protection before the law, give the same privileges to all citizens and grant the right to vote. Despite the amendments, there were many obstacles and challenges, from the physical liberation of all slaves, their integration into society and the development of interracial relationships. The Proclamation was a military tactic designed to create more agitation among the slaves of the rebel territory; by itself, did nothing to free the slaves of the Union.

The Proclamation allowed the recruitment of freed slaves and freed African Americans as soldiers to strengthen the Union’s manpower militarily and politically to preserve it. Over the next couple of years, approximately 175,000 African American men fought in the Union army (Roark, 403). It opened the doorway into weakening the Southern planter aristocracy while

Lillian Goldman Law Library Foner, Eric. Chapter 4: Slavery, Freedom, And The Struggle for Empire. Give Me Liberty! 4th ed. N.p.:

Allen Guelzo and Vincent Harding approached Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the eventual abolition of slavery from two very different viewpoints. The major disagreement between them is whether the slaves freed themselves, or Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation freed them. Harding argued the former view, Guelzo took the later. When these essays are compared side by side Guelzo’s is stronger because, unlike Harding, he was able to keep his own views of American race relations out of the essay and presented an argument that was based on more than emotion.

The Emancipation Proclamation- How it Changed the Civil War The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in some areas. Some places still held rebellion. According to History.com, “Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebel states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

If the Civil war was not won by the Union, the slaves might be enslaved still and the Emancipation Proclamation would not have been successful. When Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the rebel states it infuriated the the Confederation. It also led to slaves to join the Union army during the war. Lincoln hoped by doing this it would to change the war from “save the Union” to “revolutionizing the war” (VHS). By “revolutionizing the war” it meant not having to fight

On September 2nd, 1862, Abraham Lincoln famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation. After that, there’s been much debate on whether Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation truly played a role in freeing the slaves with many arguments opposing or favoring this issue. In Vincent Harding’s essay, The Blood-red Ironies of God, Harding argues in his thesis that Lincoln did not help to emancipate the slaves but that rather the slaves “self-emancipated” themselves through the war. On the opposition, Allen C Guelzo’s essay, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, argues in favor of the Emancipation Proclamation and Guelzo acknowledges Lincoln for the abolishment of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.

For hundreds of years historians have debated about the most significant factor for the advancement of civil rights for African-Americans from 1880-1980. Prior to this, African-Americans were largely only slaves, particularly in the South as nearly 4 million black slaves were forced to do extensive labour there allowing them to have no freedom whatsoever. However, during the Civil War, President Lincoln stated all slaves “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” as he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This abolished slave trade in the US and attempted to bring an end to the Civil War.

The northern states abolished slavery after we won the war. Slaves also began to fight against slavery, they wrote petitions and made good arguments. People were beginning to open their eyes and question slavery. Well, not speaking for the southern states, but it was a start and did free many.

The Civil War maintained the union and freed the slaves. Reconstruction excluded the political focus on certain areas. However slaves were freed. They gained civil liberties and lost long term racial action. The union needed to effectively bring the south back to position, and the interest in the economy.

African American majority in the Southern States even after the emancipation proclamation still encounter segregation, oppression, disenfranchisement and racial violence. (National Park Service) The “separate but equal” doctrine was the foundation for discrimination which shines light on the dilemma of the African American people. With white ultimatum to dominate society using their unsupported white supremacist belief to intimidate and dissuade African American from their rights civil rights activists had to take the necessary step to protect the black American

Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).