civilwaressayhf09

 Hailey Fitzgerald Air Civil War Unit

The emancipation proclamation truly didn't help all of the slaves, it had a different purpose. First of all, Lincoln entered the war not to end slavery, but to keep the country together. Second of all, he couldn’t free the slaves in the beginning of the war, because he and his cabinet were afraid of what it would to the country. The Emancipation Proclamation gave the north war advantages and the south disadvantages. Also all slaves in the United States were not free until after the war.

Lincoln had entered the war to keep his country together, and could only do that by freeing the slaves. The war was about slavery; however the north's goal was to keep the country together as he says here: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided.” This quote by Abraham Lincoln represents his goal in the war, because he knew the country could not go about living with split lifestyles. Therefore the slaves were an afterthought in his mind. “What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because **__I believe it helps to save the Union__**; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.” Lincoln admits that the emancipation of blacks will only happen because it is of assistance to the Union. Lincoln places the freedom of blacks on a low priority compared to his desire to unify the nation, and his words here seem more becoming of a Politian than the so-called Great Emancipator.

Lincoln couldn’t free the slaves in the beginning of the war, because he and his cabinet were afraid of what it would do to the country. He needed the Union’s support and approval of his actions before he could free the slaves. Lincoln and any other sane person would see the consequences in his actions. He didn’t know how the Border States or the Copperhead democrats would react, whom later denounced the proclamation and gained seats in the house. Salmon chase, a member of Lincolns cabinet saw the proclamation as "...a measure of great danger...leading to depredation and massacre on one hand and support to the insurrection on the other." (Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.) This quote means that the proclamation would lead to attack and massacre, but it was also supporting open revolt against Lincoln and the government. Why would Lincoln ever issue the proclamation if he knew of all these consequences to his action? Therefore Lincoln knew that the proclamation had more war value than value to the slaves. So, he wasn’t the great emancipator everyone thought he was, he was more of a Politian. Throughout Lincoln’s meeting of the Emancipation Proclamation, Caleb Smith kept quiet, but he opposed the proclamation greatly. Caleb Smith was a member of Lincoln’s cabinet. He had once said "if the proclamation was issued that he would 'resign and go home and attack the administration.'" (Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin)

The Emancipation Proclamation gave the north advantages in the war, and the south disadvantages. Both Stanton and Bates, members of Lincoln’s cabinet, saw the military value in the proclamation, which is exactly what Abraham Lincoln wanted, as it says in this quote by Stanton, a member of Lincoln’s cabinet. "...The tremendous advantage to be gained if the massive workforce of slaves could be transferred from the confederacy to the union."(__Team of rivals__ by Doris Kearns Goodwin pg 465) This basically means that with the slaves, the union could win the war. A disadvantage for the south is that the slaves were doing all of their farming so whites were more available to the southern army. Without the slaves, the confederacy would have a large part of their labor force taken out. Therefore, there were fewer enlistments into the confederate army. A larger disadvantage to the Confederacy was that France and United Kingdom did not join the war to help the confederacy, because the proclamation made the war a war against slavery and they already abolished it. They were going to fight with them because the south supplied them with cotton. The Emancipation Proclamation left out a major part of slaves in the Border States, until the war ended in 1865. The slaves were free in the following places, “** Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. Johns, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South-Carolina, North-Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth-City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were ** ** not issued ****. " ** These are all the states in rebellion to the union, excluding Texas, the Border States, and some parishes. Though the Proclamation freed thousands of slaves the day it went into effect and Lincoln was considered a hero, there were still 425,000 slaves in the Border States who were not free. After the war however, all four million slaves were free. In this situation, the slaves were considered a little bonus to winning the war, because Lincoln kept the nation together.

Though the proclamation helped many slaves, this document was the reason the union won the war, which was Lincoln’s plan all along. For, Lincoln didn’t enter the war to end slavery, but to keep the nation together. Lincoln couldn’t free the slaves in the beginning of the war, because he and his cabinet were afraid of what it would do to the country. The Proclamation gave the north advantages in the war, and the south disadvantages. All slaves were not free until the end of the war.