Here ’s a question for your next trivia biz : How many slaves did theEmancipation Proclamationfree ?
Answer : zero .
But you learned in school day that President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation , ripe ? Well , the history books may have been stretching the truth .
An significant fact to know about Lincoln is that he was a savvy politician . The Emancipation Proclamation was a document that officially exchange nothing – Congress had already passed laws outlawingslaveryin the rebel states , which was the only territory Lincoln covered in the Proclamation . ( Lincoln the politician wanted to keep border - state voters felicitous . )
And the Proclamation pack effect on Jan. 1 , 1863 , two years after theCivil Warbegan – what took Lincoln so long ? Again , politics . He could n’t very well have write out a order freeing the slaves when the North was fall behind the warfare . There would be no means to implement the Proclamation , thus making it appear a desperate and vacuous threat . So Lincoln hold back until a handsome Union profits , atAntietam .
verbalize of enforcement , the Proclamation technically unloose slave in another commonwealth – theConfederacyhadseceded . So what happened to the slave in the Union ? They had to await until 1865 for the passageway of the bondage - abolishing13th Amendment , which was n’t formally ratify until after Lincoln was assassinate .
But the Emancipation Proclamation must have done something . Otherwise , why would we study it such an important papers ?
While it did n’t technically set anyone free , the Proclamation was part of Lincoln ’s strategy to demoralize the South , and it worked . Poorer southerly whites resented that they were now press a war to protect wealthy plantation owners who were do-or-die to maintain onto their " holding . " And as watchword of the Proclamation spread , slaves leave behind those plantations en masse . Their hejira even helped sprain the lunar time period in the siege of Vicksburg , a vital Union win .
Additionally , France and England , which had been secretly aid the South , could not officially recognize a nation that still enslaved other human beings . Europe also could not evoke a country that , according to the Emancipation Proclamation , was now fighting bondage .
And if all that were n’t enough , the Emancipation Proclamation can be credit with give this rural area another state of matter .
Beyond politics , the Emancipation Proclamation became a symbol of what the Civil War was heading toward . It was no longer aboutstates ' rightfield , rebellion andnullification– with one document , Lincoln turned it into a state of war to end thralldom .
What was the Emancipation Proclamation?
The Emancipation Proclamation , unlike Lincoln ’s famousGettysburg Address , is very legal and dry . There ’s a deficiency of emotional appeal , which is on the nose what Lincoln mean . While Lincoln sometimes gets a unsound rap for overstepping his business leader with this document , the Emancipation Proclamation was his attempt at staying within his effectual bound as president . TheSupreme Courtwas heavy with Southern sympathizers – it was the same court that made the Dred Scott opinion ( seeHow the Underground Railroad Worked ) – so Lincoln bonk that if there was any sort of legal loophole that the court could use to challenge the Proclamation , slaverywould be saved .
Lincoln used his potency as the commander in chief to end slavery as a leverage against the rebel states . This made it a " necessary war beat for suppressing say insurrection " to keep the Union . Instead of attract to people ’s hearts , which were not universally in favor of freeing slaves , Lincoln skirted the Supreme Court ’s legal power by claim that slavery ’s terminal was a military manoeuvre .
The resolution , though , was the strangulation of slavery . Although the border state of matter – Missouri , Delaware , Kentucky and Maryland – were turn out from the Proclamation , slaves in those states would ordinarily just get over the border to freedom if the state did n’t abolish slavery on its own ( see sidebar ) . So why did n’t Lincoln let in them ?
Lincoln may have wanted to completely get rid of slavery , but he knew he could n’t accomplish his principal object glass of preserving the Union if he preserve to bleed states and democratic support . He had no desire to see the Emancipation Proclamation ’s defeat , setting back abolition movements and sending the country further into catastrophe .
But make no error : Lincoln knew what he was doing . He told newsprint reporter James Scovel that the Proclamation would be " my greatest and most enduring contribution to the story of the warfare " [ source : Guelzo ] .
The concluding document was more than 700 row long , and some of its importance can be diluted by the legal jargon . So let ’s take a flavour at the Emancipation Proclamation segment by section as it was supply on Jan. 1 , 1863 , to discover what Lincoln was addressing in each part , and why some of it was so controversial .
Proclamation Time Line
The terminal Emancipation Proclamation go into effect on Jan. 1 , 1863 , but there were a couple of early drafts .
July 22 , 1862 : Lincoln presented his first draft copy of the Proclamation to his Cabinet . It maintained Lincoln ’s spatial relation thatslaveryshould be abolished gradually and that slave owners should be compensated .
The Cabinet ’s reaction ? While the spirit was that emancipation was worthy in theory , the political and social consequence interest them . Postmaster General Montgomery Blair , for instance , promise that the Proclamation would be unpopular and be the Republican Party in that year ’s congressional elections . Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase fear that the Proclamation outstrip Lincoln ’s agency . Secretary of State William Seward occupy that it would appear to Europe and the rest of the humans that the Union was lose the warfare ( which it was , at that point ) , and that the Proclamation would be perceived as a desperate effort of a die administration – " as the last measure of an fagged government , a rallying cry for help … our last shriek , on the retreat " [ source : McPherson ] . He advised Lincoln to hold off until a major Union victory , which came in September 1862 at the Battle of Antietam .
Sept. 22 , 1862 : Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation . Why a preliminary interlingual rendition ? Because by allege that the decree would not take effect until Jan. 1 , 1863 , Lincoln was giving the Johnny Reb one last chance to hold on to their slave – as long as they jibe to rejoin the Union .
Jan. 1 , 1863 : The final Emancipation Proclamation was enacted . By Jan. 1 , no states had willingly give back ( although a few plantation owner did endeavor to sign item-by-item allegiance oath ) , but Union forces had captured parts of some rebel states , so Lincoln excluded them from the Proclamation ( we ’ll see what precisely was excluded a little subsequently ) .
Creative Proclamation Wording
In the first sentence , Lincoln states that he ’s freeing only people who are enslaved in rebel state . The rebel Department of State turn over themselves another res publica , so , depending on your persuasion on the legitimacy of the Confederacy , Lincoln had about as much legal authority to free slave in the South as he did to outlawsmokingin France .
And even if you did count the Confederacy as Union put forward in rebellion , Congress had flap Lincoln to the biff as far as release slave . In August 1861 , the First Confiscation Act directed Union commanders to confiscate " band together property , " which included striver . And the Second Confiscation Act in July 1862 declared that confiscated hard worker " shall be free forever . " So wherever the war machine went , striver could be free . Lincoln might have declared all slaves destitute , but if no one was there to enforce it , the Proclamation was an empty promise .
As far as constitutional amendment endingslavery , none were technically passed until after Lincoln ’s death . In April 1864 , the U.S. Senate labour for a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery , which Lincoln stomach ( it was defeated in the House of Representatives ) . The issue nearly cost Lincoln re - election and Republicans control of Congress . But Lincoln ’s dedication is an arguing that not all of his anti - slavery mensuration were politically motivated .
But with the Proclamation , Lincoln was able-bodied to make nobody really happy . Many abolitionists thought the Proclamation should free all slaves ; northern Democrats and Southerners imagine Lincoln had stepped beyond his sound authority . Many multitude were confused that Lincoln had changed the state of war from a battle to conserve the Union into a battle to end slavery . Racist position persist in both the North and South , and the mind that white troops were buy the farm so freed slaves could invade the North and take jobs was unpopular , to put it mildly . The 1863 bill of exchange riots inNew Yorkmostly point black because of this fear , and there were flock of reports of mob violence against Northern businesses that utilize black laborers .
Exceptions to Emancipation
This is where Lincoln tries to annul any legal web with theslavery - friendlySupreme Court . By trammel his authority to commander in chief suppressing a rebellion , Lincoln prevented the Supreme Court from ruling the Emancipation Proclamation unconstitutional .
Of of course , by confining it to area of rebellion , Lincoln had to omit areas that had been recapture by the Union , as indicated in the second paragraph that excludes areas of Louisiana and Virginia . In fact , Lincoln left this paragraph with blanks in it until the sidereal day before it was put out , waiting for word from military commander about any novel territories that could be added . By listing counties one by one , Lincoln was able-bodied to avoid slaveholders ' lawsuits in federal courts – even though these same slaveholder only a few week earlier did not recognize the U.S. Union court system because they were part of the Confederacy .
The " forty - eight county designated as West Virginia " is the area of Appalachian Virginia that did n’t favor withdrawal and broke gratuitous of Virginia to rejoin the Union . West Virginia vote to abolish slavery within six months of the Emancipation Proclamation .
Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation
The first paragraph has the strong wording in the entire document : Lincoln ’s earlier draft had abolishedslaveryin the future tense . As author Allen C. Guelzo channelise out , " In the final draft , the time had come to make the prospect a present reality " [ germ : Guelzo ] . It was this wording that triggered solemnization in many northerly cities on Jan. 1 , 1863 – slave were n’t go to be free someday , they were free . But while abolitionist and loose blacks celebrate that musical theme , others worried . Some white Northerners thought wad of freed slaves would invade the North and take all of the jobs ; others fear wild uprisings as slaves kill former masters and overran the South .
In response to these concerns , Lincoln added the second paragraph . It was mostly unnecessary . Some slaves did imperil and obliterate former master copy , but it was rarefied . On some plantations , slaves numbered in the 100 and just overtook the plantation and ran off the owner .
Most slaves learned of the proclamation through the grapevine , others as the Union Army passed through . Rather than rise up against their former masters , many of the freed slave undertake to join the Army . Others headed to the cities – as far away from the plantations as they could get – to reconnect with kinsperson .
There were some slaves who did n’t learn of their exemption straightaway . For example , those in Key West , Fla. , had heard about the Emancipation Proclamation , but did n’t determine that it had belong into effect until mid - January 1863 . And news of the Emancipation Proclamation did n’t strain office of Texas until as late as June 1865 – after Lee had give up .
However , most slave owner ' attempts could n’t keep the news of the Emancipation Proclamation from their slaves . And , despite the document ’s shortcoming , " No striver declared free by the Proclamation was ever give to slaveholding once he or she had made it to the guard of Union - held territory " [ source : Guelzo ] .
Freed Slaves: Emancipation in War
In this paragraph , Lincoln formally allowed freed slave to be accept into the armed services . This had a Brobdingnagian effect on the war . Any racist sentiments about Caucasian fighting for Black person ' exemption were mostly squelched when freed slaves unite the Army in large numbers . However , many free men ( and woman ) who crossed over to Union lines end up incontraband camps , which mostly imply them doing drudge study while suffering from malnutrition and exposure . The conditions were so horrible , the Death that result from these camps account for most of the South ’s civilian casualties [ author : McPherson ] .
The freed slave who were accepted into the Army proved to be as effective soldiers as Edward White . One of the most noted of the bleak regiments , the 54th Massachusetts , was the subject of the movie " Glory , " the white troops , and public public opinion grudgingly followed .
In Vicksburg , Miss. , loaded plantation owners fled – with their slaves in towage . Many other slave run to Union lines . As a result , there was less striver working class to act on Vicksburg ’s fortifications . General Ulysses S. Grant , himself a former slave proprietor , was eventually capable to break the defenses at Vicksburg , and he credited the freed men for much of his success . Vicksburg was a major Union victory because it give the Union control of the Mississippi River .
to boot , the Emancipation Proclamation ended the secret funding that European country like England and France had been giving to the Confederacy early in the war . The promulgation effectively terminate any hopes on the part of Southerners that these European powers would formally recognize the Confederacy as an sovereign rural area . England and France had abolished slavery decades earlier and would not openly fight back a country fighting to eliminate it .
Beyond the fighting , the Emancipation Proclamation had a huge effect on southerly morale . Poor blanched Fannie Farmer in the South were upset that the state of war ’s cause was no longer about state ' rights versus the Union . Now these poor farmers were fighting to protect the " property " of wealthy grove owners who could buy their elbow room out of serve in the Confederate Army . And the plantation owners , already in veneration of the striver universe that outnumbered them , acquire even more paranoid , so they fought harder to control their slave . The division warfare that erupted displume apart much of the Southern cause . And the fresh discharge persons further damage " the cause . " As Allen C. Guelzo states in " Lincoln ’s Emancipation Proclamation , " " The legal injury work by the Proclamation went deeper , like a stake in the essence of slavery ’s collective mind , and the dread grew in snowy Southerners as they beheld around them people who would not consent any longer to be thing " [ source : Guelzo ] .
Emancipation After the War
So Lincoln ’s Emancipation Proclamation did n’t technically free anybody . Lincoln recognise this , and he ferment toward getting integral amendment passed to abolishslaveryand secure citizenship for blacks . The amendments he push for were pass after his death , but were mostly hollow attack at black citizenship .
After Lincoln ’s character assassination cameAndrew Johnson’sadministration and the ascension of Radical Republicans , who want to penalize the vote down South . Congress did n’t trust Johnson – or his forwarding of Lincoln ’s lenient policy of receive the South back into the Union .
The Freedmen’s Bureau
At first , the United States tried to aid newly unloose slaves . The atrocious conditions in the black-market camps move the creation of lodge and chemical group that leave clothing , medicine and fiscal aid to the fresh freed . Out of these group evolved theFreedmen ’s Bureau : " prove in the War Department by an turn of March 3 , 1865 . The Bureau supervised all relief and educational activities relating to refugees and freedmen , include issuing ration , article of clothing and medicine . The Bureau also assumed custody of confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States , border commonwealth , District of Columbia , and Indian Territory " [ source : Freedmen ’s Bureau ] .
One of the government agency ’s tasks was enforcing the variance of Plantation . Some of the land was opine to be forthwith trade to former slaves , other parcels were to be manage by Northerners , and still others were returned to their owners in substitution for signed expletive of allegiance . Treatment of blacks on these plantations ranged from " benign to brutish paternalism " [ germ : McPherson ] .
But with Northern apathy and antiblack attitudes , as well as a gimpy southerly saving , smuggled right hand to citizenship were quickly suppressed . statute law remove the Freedmen ’s Bureau was provide to lapse in 1872 . Sharecropping – former slaves " sharing " 50 percent of earnings with former masters to solve the terra firma – kept many freed men in debt and link up to the plantation in de facto thrall .
