President Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln released the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The emancipation had a significant effect on the war because it altered its course. The emancipation proclamation changed the focus of the war, which had originally been about "states rights," to slavery. A further benefit of the emancipation declaration was that it ended slavery, fundamentally altering American history.
The Impact on the Civil War
The emancipation proclamation altered the trajectory of the conflict between the south, which still held slaves, and the abolitionist north. The south was winning the war before the emancipation declaration was made. The Emancipation Proclamation was a wartime tactic used by Lincoln. The emancipation Proclamation enabled Lincoln to win the war and thereby preserve the union. If the south had won the war, the union would have been broken down since the southern leaders wanted their states to secede from the union. The proclamation made it clear that the slave holding states that were fighting for the union would be allowed to retain their slaves. Such states included; Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky.
The Role of Freed Slaves in the Civil War
Both sides had suffered heavy casualties and thus soldiers were required. The side that would receive the boost of the freed slaves was to become victorious. Abraham Lincoln used the emancipation proclamation so as to get the support of the slaves in the war against the south confederates. Slaves escaped from the south heading north so as to join the union soldiers. The freed slaves fought the confederate soldiers in a move to free the other slaves who were still being enslaved in the south. The black saw that as an opportunity to end the oppression that they were suffering from their white masters. There was an approximate 600000 soldiers who ran away from their southern masters to the north. This shifted the course of the war and led to the north becoming victorious and thus saving the union from disintegrating.
The Emancipation Proclamation and International Influences
The emancipation proclamation also linked the war between the abolitionist and confederates to the issue of slavery. This worked into persuading European countries such as Britain and France from joining the war and helping the southern states. It also prevented these countries from supplying the south with weapons since these European countries were against slavery.
The Strategic Timing and Lasting Impact
The timing of the Lincoln proclamation was also strategic. Lincoln knew that if he made the proclamation early, the states that were slave holding and supported the union, would turn their support to the confederates. Therefore, even during the proclamation, to the states that were supporting the union, it weren't mandatory to abolish slavery immediately.
Long-Term Effects and Civil Rights
The emancipation proclamation was a new dawn to the slaves. This proclamation was the beginning of their walk to freedom, equality and their recognition as the American citizens. This proclamation set the pace to the enactment of amendments that would ensure that the African Americans could walk free in their own country. Two years after the emancipation proclamation, the 13th amendment was enacted by the US congress in 1865 to completely forbid enslavement in the United States. Three years later, in 1968, the US congress enacted the 14th amendment that gave the African American citizenship rights. In 1870, the freed slaves were guaranteed the right to vote. These rights, changed the lives of the African American, who because of the emancipation proclamation, could now hold offices in the south, a place whereby a couple of years, they had served as slaves.
Bibliography
Gopal, Priyamvada. "The Emancipation Proclamation and the Politics of Self-Liberation." The Guardian, 2013.
Jones, Howard. Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 2002
McComb, Marianne. The Emancipation Proclamation. Washington: National Geographic Society, 2006.
