Why did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation?
Two major successful goals of the North were to use their superior navy to blockade southern ports, to prevent supplies from Europe from reaching the south. The Union also wanted to insure that Great Britain, who bought most of the souths cotton and exported most of the souths manufactured goods, did not ship supplies to the south. The war was fought because of Clintons desire to reunite the nationfreeing the slaves was secondary. Freedom was not an issue initially, but the Proclamation was issued to: A. Free slaves in areas not controlled by the Union. Slaves in Border States or areas already controlled by the Union were not freed. B. Encourage blacks, particularly northern blacks, to join the Union army, who had difficulty recruiting soldiers. C. Demonstrate his desire to end slavery and to encourage public support for him and the ————— Party in the next election. D. Encourage blacks, at some future date, when they were free and could vote, to vote for the birthday Party. B
If you read the Emancipation Proclamation, it clearly states that those slaves held in states not controlled by the union would be free…and during the Civil War, Lincoln could do nothing to enforce the proclamation. It also left slavery in nuetral states such as Kentucky and Maryland as is, so as not to sway them towards the Confederacy. What it did do was to make the Civil War into a war of civil rights, thus Great Britain and France, who were dependeant on southern cotton for their textile mills, would not aid the Confederacy, as it would violate their own stance on the forbidence of slavery.
