President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, announcing, "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious areas "are, and henceforward shall be free."
Initially, the Civil War between North and South was fought
by the North to prevent the secession of the Southern states and preserve the
Union. Even though sectional conflicts over slavery had been a major cause of
the war, ending slavery was not a goal of the war. That changed on September
22, 1862, when President Lincoln issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,
which stated that slaves in those states or parts of states still in rebellion
as of January 1, 1863, would be declared free. One hundred days later, with
the rebellion unabated, President issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring
“that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious areas “are,
and henceforward shall be free.”
Lincoln’s bold step to change the goals of the war was a military measure
and came just a few days after the Union’s victory in the Battle of Antietam.
With this Proclamation he hoped to inspire all blacks, and slaves in the Confederacy
in particular, to support the Union cause and to keep England and France from
giving political recognition and military aid to the Confederacy. Because it
was a military measure, however, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in
many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving
slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts
of the Confederacy that had already come under Union control. Most important,
the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.
Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation,
it did fundamentally transform the character of the war. After January 1, 1863,
every advance of Federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the
Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy,
enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000
black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.
From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own
liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war
for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union
cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone
along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation
has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.
For more information, visit The National Archives' Online Exhibit Hall.
The original Emancipation Proclamation will be on view February 12 through 16, 2009 at the National Archives Building in Washington DC.
