Based on your reading of the articles, did the slaves free themselves, or does Lincoln deserve considerable credit for ensuring emancipation?
It is true that when the war began, Lincoln acted slower and even more reluctantly to make it a war of liberation than black activists, abolitionists, nationalist Republicans, and the black slaves themselves expected him to act rapidly. He told the Southern Whites that he still had no desire or legislative authority to interfere with slavery in the south. All this seems to underpin the argument that slaves liberated themselves and that Lincoln's reputation as an emancipator is a fallacy ( McPherson, 1995) . It seems evident now as it was in 1861, that no matter how many slaves joined the Union, the eventual fate relied on the civil war outcome.
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What role did the war itself play in bringing about the end of slavery?
According to James McPherson's article, by July 1862, Lincoln turned the page to abolition due to the civil war. He found it necessary to make a declaration of emancipation. Whereas a year ago, even three months earlier, Lincoln assumed that it was important to avoid such a drastic move in sustaining the knife-edge balance in the Union coalition, things had now shifted ( Lincoln, 1862) . The escalating war in-depth and fury unleashed all the energy of both sides, such as the slave workforce of the Confederate states.
As per the articles, Lincoln's major worry in 1861 was to preserve a cohesive coalition of war democrats, and also republicans, in favor of the war effort. In theory, Lincoln approved abolition as a remedy of war but deferred executive action regarding slavery until he felt that he had both the constitutional jurisdiction to do so and greater support from the American people ( McPherson, 1995) . While Lincoln personally despised slavery, he felt bound by his legal authority as president to oppose slavery only in the light of the necessary war measures. This indicates that the slaves freed themselves and that Lincoln had to help though he was bound to the rule of law.
Reference
McPherson, J. M. (1995). Who Freed the Slaves?. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , 139 (1), 1-10.
Lincoln, A. (1862). Letter to Horace Greeley. August 22 , 1863.
