From the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln defined the war as one being fought for preservation of the Union (the United States), not as one to abolish, or end, slavery. In his first Inaugural Address, prior to the outbreak of war, Lincoln stated that he would not abolish slavery where it existed, as he felt he could not constitutionally do so. He also made this promise in an attempt to diffuse the increasing tensions in the South after his election. Although Lincoln opposed slavery, he also knew that it would be controversial to frame the war as one fought for abolition. Lincoln knew that many Northerners would not support a war to free slaves. In addition, Lincoln could not lose the support of the border states. The border states were Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri. These were states that allowed slavery, yet chose not to secede with the Confederate states during the Civil War. Lincoln feared that if he made the Civil War a fight to end slavery, these states would defect to the Confederacy.
Lincoln also felt constricted by the Constitution. Technically slaves were considered property, and the Constitution protected property. The Fugitive Slave Clause in the Constitution also stipulated that “no person held to service or labor in one state” could earn freedom by escaping to another state, and the controversial Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 required individuals and states to return escaped slaves to their owners. Lincoln therefore took steps throughout the war as commander in chief to slowly chisel away at slavery. As commander in chief of the armed forces, Lincoln could seize property being used to wage war. He therefore passed a series of contraband acts, arguing that because slaves provided labor for the Confederate Army, they could be seized by the Union Army as contrabands of war. Lincoln effectively used the South’s own argument against them—in considering slaves property and using them in the war effort, Southerners opened up the opportunity for Lincoln to free slaves seized by the Union Army.
As the war progressed, emancipation became more and more necessary to weaken the Confederacy and to gain support of European nations. In Europe, especially in places such as Italy, and among workers and lower classes in Britain, the war was seen as a war over slavery, even if no one in the United States would admit it. The Confederacy was attempting to gain the support and alliance of Great Britain and France; however, these countries would not support a war for slavery. As long as the Confederacy could frame the Civil War as a war for independence and states’ rights, they could potentially gain the support of European countries. Lincoln therefore also felt an increasing need to change the purpose of the war in order to dissuade European support for the Confederacy.
The Battle of Antietam in 1862 provided Lincoln an ideal opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union secured a much needed strategic victory at this battle, stopping General Lee’s powerful Army of Northern Virginia. In his proclamation, which Lincoln issued as an executive order, Lincoln stated that all slaves in seceded states would be freed on January 1, 1863. Therefore, slaves in border states were exempt because they were still part of the Union. Nevertheless, the proclamation proved hugely significant, as it changed the purpose of the war from preserving the Union to preserving the Union and ending slavery in the South. The proclamation also allowed escaped slaves to serve in segregated units of the Union Army. Thousands of slaves responded by fleeing the South and joining Union troops, making vital contributions to the Union war effort and to their own freedom.
Lincoln, a lawyer, knew that he still faced a constitutional battle after the war. Once the war ended, the proclamation might no longer be valid—he knew he needed a constitutional amendment in order to permanently end slavery. In 1864, after fierce debates in Congress, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, declaring “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United States.”
https://guides.loc.gov/emancipation-proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was actually an Executive Order issued by President Abraham Lincoln, effective January 1, 1863. The order was issued in order to free those people that were held in slavery in southern states. Although history now looks favorably on the order, it was clearly quite controversial at the time. Lincoln had already been elected under contentious circumstances and the issuance of the Proclamation served to further divide the country and incite even more anger among many in the south. Southern landowners, and others, saw slavery as a critical resource to the southern economy and perceived Lincoln's actions as inflammatory against their economic and social stability. Prior to Lincoln issuing the order, slavery had been considered a secondary issue in the already underway Civil War. However, the issue of slavery became one of the objectives of Union armies after the Proclamation was issued. Although the long term impact of the Emancipation Proclamation had clear positive impacts on the socio-economic trajectory of the United States, the ramifications were pronounced. Particularly in the ten southern states identified by the order, the abolishing of slavery led to decades of social unrest, segregation, and institutional disregard for federal laws. Historians and sociologists continue to analyze the varied effectiveness of equality efforts around the country.
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