The Emancipation Proclamation awarded freedom to slaves who existed in the Confederate States is they failed to return to the Union by January 1, 1863. Under the proclamation, slaves would only gain freedom if the Union won the war. President Lincoln had carefully framed the war as concerning the preservation of the Union rather than abolishing slavery. After thousands of slaves fled to join the invading Northern armies in mid-1862, President Lincoln was convinced that abolition of slavery had become a critical issue in the war; hence, the issuance of a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, after victory at Antietam (Lincoln, 2015). Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not offer freedom for a single slave, it marked a significant turning point in the war since it transformed the war from the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for the freedom of humans.
Every advance of federal troops after January 1, 1863, expanded the domain for freedom. It further announced the acceptance of Black Men into the Union army and the navy thereby enabling the liberated slaves to become liberators as well. Consequently, by the end of the Civil War, over 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought both for the union and for freedom. It is important to understand that the Emancipation Proclamation added a moral cause to the Union thereby strengthening both the union and the military politically (Clark, 2013). The emancipation policy was necessary since the federal army had been weakened by various events in July and August 1862 and needed some motivation. The policy would weaken the Confederacy and strengthen the Union by siphoning off part of the Southern labor force into the Northern side.
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References
Clark, W. (2013). The true story of the Emancipation Proclamation . New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Lincoln, A. (2015). Emancipation Proclamation . Brooklyn, NY: Sheba Blake Publishing.
