What effect did the Emancipation Proclamation have on the Civil War?
President Lincoln always insisted that his aim was not the destruction of slavery, but the preservation of the Union. He often reassured political leaders from the loyal slave states that if he could end the war without freeing any slave, he would. However, Congress and the public grew more and more of the mind that slavery was wrong and should be abolished as a policy of the war effort. Lincoln, by 1862, had decided that it might be necessary to free some of the slaves in order to increase support for his administration and the war effort. He read a proclamation to his cabinet during the summer of 1862, which stated that all slaves held in territory that was still under the control of rebel forces would be freed. Secretary of State Seward convinced Lincoln not to issue the Emancipation Proclamation until there was a Union victory, so it would appear the US was issuing the proclamation out of strength, not weakness. The major victory occurred at Antietam on September 22, 1862. Five day
