Existing comment:
henceforward and Forever Free:
President Abraham Lincoln altered the course of the Civil War and he nation when he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation five days after the battle. During the summer of 1862, he agonized over issuing a proclamation to abolish slavery in those states in rebellion. Some of his cabinet thought that such a move would look like an act of desperation in the face of Union military setbacks. The president needed a victory to give him the opportunity for such a move. The Battle of Antietam, followed by Lee's withdrawal to Virginia, was the decisive moment.
The proclamation was issued in two parts. The preliminary document was introduced on September 22, 1862 and the final on January 1, 1863. Both documents freed slaves in those states in rebellion. In addition to setting the stage for the abolition of slavery in 1865, it was a decisive war measure. The proclamation went far in discouraging European nations from allying with the Confederacy. It also deprived the South of valuable labor for their war effort and led to the recruitment of almost 200,000 African American soldiers for the Union cause. |