What events affected slavery during the civil war?
When Union troops took over Southern territory, slavery ended on a defacto basis (not by law, but by practice.) The battle of Antietam created the situation that allowed President Lincoln to put out the Emancipation Proclamation which applied to territories still in rebellion as of Jan. 1, 1863. In January of 1865 the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was introduced in Congress to end the concept of slavery in that document. President Lincoln was under pressure in the 1864 election since much of the war had not gone well. Sherman’s victories in Georgia may have influenced that election in Lincoln’s favor since all could see they were now winning, but by keeping Lincoln and rejecting those who would have negotiated an end to the fighting, that election sealed the fate of the Confederacy and slavery.
