Essay On Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 is arguably one of the most important events in American history. The Civil War is most known for a war over slavery. The Civil War opened the door to future civil rights movement, in one of United States’ darkest time. Although, I don’t think that the Emancipation Proclamation was actually an act of advocacy for African American rights, but rather a political move to ensure a win in the war. By understanding and using the previous attempts of emancipation to examine the change and the future effect of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Which in the book is known as “Lincoln’s initial position”. The progress in change of the Emancipation Proclamation is important to understand, but It is also important to understand how military power and precise timing can also impact policy and in this case a war.
Prior to the American Civil War in 1860 14,000 African Americans living in Washington D.C.; a little over three thousand of the African Americans living there were slaves. In 1861 seven Southern States succeed from the Union and created their own government. President Abraham Lincoln did not initially plan to free the slaves in rebelling southern states. The Congress passed a
President Lincoln also stated he wanted to avoid military emancipation of Southern states. This factor leads me to believe that the Emancipation Proclamation was intended to be a political movement against the rebelling Southern states rather than an act of advocacy for African American rights. President Lincoln was concerned that total rejection of slavery would isolate boarder states. Because so many boarder states had slaves, Lincoln wanted to use a gradual, compensated, and most importantly voluntary emancipation. The Emancipation Proclamation did not bring an effective end to slavery, but it did initiate the process and established a way for minorities to