Why did the Emancipation Proclamation not actually free any enslaved people?
The Emancipation Proclamation did not free any enslaved people because according to its own terms it was to be effective only in certain states and certain counties of other states that were then in rebellion against the United States at that time. The problem with that was that the United States did not have the power to enforce the Proclamation in states that were in rebellion, so none of the states named in the Proclamation obeyed it. One could look at it and say that the Proclamation freed slaves only in those areas where the United States could not force them to be freed and it did not free slaves in areas where it did have the power to force them to be freed. Another question was whether the President could take away property without due process of law. There was no slavery in the North but slaves were still considered property. A blanket freeing of slaves might have been unconstitutional as an improper taking of property. That is a reason why it was limited to the areas in rebel
