The Emancipation ProclamationThe emancipation proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1,1863, during the American Civil War, declaring all “slaves within any State, ordesignated part of a State. . . then.
. . in rebellion,. . .
shall be then,thenceforward, and forever free. “The states affected were enumerated in theproclamation; specifically exempted were slaves in parts of the South then heldby Union armies. Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation marked aradical change in his policy. After out break of the Civil War, the slavery issue was made acute bythe flight to Union lines of large numbers of slaves who volunteered to fightfor there freedom and that of there fellow slaves. In thesecircumstances, astrict application of established policy would have required return of fugitiveslaves to their masters.
Abolitionists had long been urging Lincoln to free all slaves, andpublic opinion suported that view. Lincoln moved slowly and cautiously nonetheless; on March 13, 1862, the federal government fforbade all Union Army officersto return fugitive slaves, thus annulling in effect the fugitive slave laws. OnApril 10, on Lincoln’s initiative, congress declared the federal governmentwould compenste slave owners who freed their slaves. All slaves in the Districtof Columbia were freed in this way on April 16, 1862 .
On June 19, 1862,Congress enacted a measure prohibiting slavery in United States territories,thus defying the supreme court decision in the Dred Scott case, which ruled thatCongress was powerless to regulate slavery in the territories. Finaly, after the union victory in the battle of antietam, Lincolnissued a preliminary proclamation on September 22, declaring his intention ofpromulgating another proclamathion in 100 days, freeing the slaves in the statesdeemed in rebellion at that time. On January 1, 1863 he issued the Emancipationproclamation, conferring liberty on about 3,120,000 slaves. With the enactmentof the 13th ammendment to the U. S. Constitution in effect in 1865, slavery wascompletely abolished.The results of the Emancipation Proclamation were far-reahcing.Fromthen on, sympathy with the Confederacy was identified with support of slavery.As further result of the proclamation, the Republican party becameunified in principle and i
