In 1863 President Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the United States. He chose to emancipate the slaves in 1863 instead of 1861, when he was first elected, because of the Republican Party Platform and the wish to preserve the Union.
In the election of 1860, the Republican Party platform said that slavery should not be expanded to any new territories, but it could exist in states that were already slave states. They did not believe in the immediate emancipation of slaves. No parties, at that time, did. Lincoln, however, promoted the emancipation of slaves by paying for their freedom. Lincoln probably had to wait until public opinion was in his favor to enact the Emancipation Proclamation.
In addition, after the battle of Fort Sumter, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded and joined the Confederate States of America. The border states, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri could have gone either way- they could have seceded or stayed with the Union. Since these were slave states, Lincoln took several measures to keep them with the Union. These states would have given the Confederacy a huge advantage since they contained a lot of manufacturing and had more than half the white population of the entire Confederacy. Lincoln's position was that the war was to preserve the union and not to free the slaves. He also sent troops into Maryland and declared martial law because of Washington D.C.'s location inside of it. He also sent soldiers into Virginia and Missouri where they helped fight the local civil wars. If Lincoln had emancipated the slaves in 1861, the border states might have seceded and the south could have won the war.
When the Civil War began in 1861, the North was under the impression of a ninety-day war in which Abraham Lincoln declared he had no intention of interfering with slavery where it existed. At the time, the war was viewed as a quick suppression of the South to prove Northern superiority and restore the Union. So in 1861, a need was not seen for an emancipation. It was only later that it was shown the Civil War would not be a short or an easy one to win, and that a greater moral purpose may be needed.
During the course of the war, after the Battle of Bull Run, was when President Lincoln began to draft his Emancipation Proclamation. The battle, under the generals Robert E. Lee of the Confederates and George B. McClellan of the Union, resulted in a devastating Union loss. And although the Confederates lost twice as many men (20,000 compared to McClellan’s 10,000), the battle was key. It ensured the South that if it lost, they would lose slavery as well. Lincoln claimed the Union “cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government and... still come back into the Union unhurt”.
Lincoln used the Union “victory” at Antietam, which was more of a display of the Union’s power than an actual victory, to announce his Proclamation. With popular support behind the Union cause, Lincoln added a moral purpose behind the Union’s already strong political one. Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation two months after the Battle of Bull Run, but it did not take affect until January of 1863. This also ensured the neutrality of the border states, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri, who were also slave states and could easily side with the Confederacy if slavery was threatened outright. Even when the Emancipation was introduced, it was more of a general idea than a federal law. Although it freed the slaves in the seceded Southern territories, it did not free those in the key border states.
Lincoln’s Proclamation was delayed so as to ensure greater popular support when it was introduced, retain the security and loyalty of the border states, and add a greater moral purpose to the war.
The North had no intention of freeing the slaves in the South when the war began in 1861. When Lincoln ran for presidency during the election of 1860, the Republican platform supported stopping expansion of slavery, but the overall issue of slavery was too controversial to firmly take a side and probably would have cost them the election. Lincoln was concerned with preserving the Union, and focused on that.
When the North engaged in the war with the Confederacy, they were expecting a quick victory because they outnumbered and out resourced the South. However, after they began to lose and the war dragged on for a lot longer than they expected, the Union formulated the ‘Anaconda Plan.’ This plan involved undermining Southern power, taking over the capital in Richmond, Virginia, and splitting the Confederacy up into smaller areas to conquer. Lincoln had been supporting the freedom of slaves since he was in office by offering to pay for their freedom, but he later wrote the Emancipation Proclamation that would free all the slaves in the South after the Union suffered a huge loss at the Battle at Bull Run.
He didn’t publicly release the Emancipation Proclamation till 1863 because he was advised to wait till the North had a few strong victories to support his new cause. Lincoln used the battle at Antietam to release the Proclamation. Lincoln used the Proclamation to add a greater moral purpose to the war and further build public support.
The Republican Party's platform was to prevent further expansion of slavery in the new territories and they never intended to abolish slavery completely. Lincoln himself believed in the gradual abolition of slavery. When the civil war first started, the North thought that it would be short and quick. As the war dragged on however, the North needed something else to restore the Union.
Lincoln's biggest goal was to preserve the Union and he knew that if he abolished slavery, the border slave states that had remained loyal to the Union would secede as well. These border states held a huge proportion of the northern manufacturing as well as population. Losing these states to the confederacy would put the north in a disadvantage. The Union couldn't afford to lose more states especially after Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansa seceded after the battle of Fort Sumter.
The Union's victory at Antietam showed the North's superiority and Lincoln took this as an opportunity to issue a decree. The decree stated that if the confederate states did not return to the Union, slaves in those states would be freed. When no states took the offer, Lincoln finally declared the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the United States.
The Civil War began in 1861 as a war to “preserve the Union.” Expected to be a quick and easy war favoring the North no one expected the major war that came to be. With the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 the war evolved into something even bigger. Not only was the north fighting to save our country, but also to free the slaves.
When Lincoln had been running to become president, he had promised that he would not emancipate the slaves. Lincoln was originally against the expansion of slavery but was not totally against slavery. Therefore in 1861 Lincoln did not want to go back on the Republican platform, especially on a topic as sensitive as slavery.
Originally the Lincoln was scared to abolish slavery in fear of losing support in the border states. These states contained valuable land, soldiers, and supplies. Without their support the north probably would not have won the war. In 1863 with our country in the midst of a brutal civil war Lincoln saw this as the perfect time to free the slaves. The north had begun doing better in battles at this point Lincoln felt secure enough to issue the proclamation. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not have a large instant effect it was a large step in the direction of abolition of slavery.
At the beginning when Abraham Lincoln was running for president, the Republican platform was only to stop the expansion of slavery, not to eradicate it. When the War first started, the North thought it would only last ninety days, but it turned out to be four years.
Abraham Lincoln's goal at first was only to save the Union, so he knew that if he abolished slavery, it would turn all the southern states against him including the indecisive border states. And since the capital was in Maryland, which was a slave state, Lincoln couldn't afford to lose any more states, so he kept slavery out of the issue.
Due to inexperienced generals and incapable soldiers, the North lost badly at the beginning because the generals of the South were all trained during the Mexican-American War, and their soldiers were use to physical labor from the farms.
However, with the Union's "victory" at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln took this chance to issue the Emancipation Proclamation that said slaves in the unconquered southern states were freed, but not in the border states or already conquered territories. Lincoln basically freed those who he was in no power to free, and didn't free those that he could. He did this because he was afraid that the abolition of slavery in border and conquered states would make them rise up and fight again. Although Lincoln didn't technically free any slaves, this step was the first towards the complete eradication of slaves in the Unites States.
Lincoln’s priority during his term was to restore the Union as a whole. He had doubts that the South would even secede. His platform when he was running was to not end slavery but to prevent the spread of it. He saw how the issue of slavery ended compromises and was tearing up the Union. In the beginning, Lincoln was fighting to preserve the union, not slaves.
Fort Sumter was a fort in the south that did not relinquish their power to the confederacy. There supplies were running out, so Lincoln decided to send them supplies. He told the governor of South Carolina that he was only shipping supplies but the south believed he was shipping reinforcements. On April 12, 1861, cannons were fired on the fort and it surrendered. This enraged Northerners and Lincoln called for 75,000 men to fight. In response VA, NC, TN, and AR seceded.
The North believed this would be a simple and easy war, only lasting 90 days. They had more people, money, and Railroad tracks for easy transportation of goods. They also had food crops and better factories than the south. The North also had the Border States on their side. Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and West Virginia bordered both the south and north. They were slave states but did not secede. Lincoln told them that the war was to save the union and not free slaves. If he had not declared that, then he would of lost the border states.
On July 16, 1862, the battle of Bull Run was fought. McDowell led the Union soldiers while Jackson led the Confederate soldiers. The Union lost 2,900 men while the South lost 2,000. The North then realized the war would be longer than they thought and this heightened the South’s hope. As the war progressed on the South kept winning. It was during the bloodiest battle of the war that Lincoln declared the Emancipation of Proclamation. These stated slaves were free in not yet conquered Southern territories. Lincoln did not free the slaves in border territory because he feared that they would go to the South side.
The Emancipation Proclamation stirred up much controversy, many soldiers fleed because they were not fighting to free the slaves. In the South, slaves left their plantations and this cut down the work force in the South, which Lincoln had hoped for. Lincoln did not emancipate the slaves in the beginning because he was not fighting for them he was fighting to preserve the union. He also needed soldiers to fight in the war, if he said he was fighting to free the slaves he would not have as many soldiers as he did. Therefore Lincoln was wise in his decision to wait until he declared the Emancipation Proclamation.
In the Republican platform for the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln did not intend on freeing all the slaves, but simply from preventing the expansion of slavery. His main goal was simply the preservation of the Union. After the South’s secession, the North, with their many advantages, expected the Civil War to be a quick ordeal; thus, they felt that emancipation was not required for victory in 1861.
The first battle of the war, Fort Sumter, proved the North’s expectations to be inaccurate. After this battle, the South, with their superior generals and soldiers who were more accustomed to physical work, proved that they were entirely capable of facing the North and that the war would be a long and bloody one. But more importantly, four other states, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy. Lincoln feared the border slaves states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri would secede as well and provide the South with a doubled manufacturing capacity, increase by half their supply of horses and mules, and leave the capital of Washington D.C. in southern hands, and consequently did not free the slaves.
But after the North’s victory at Antietam, Lincoln, now backed by popular support in the Union cause, signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to create a newfound motivation and moral purpose for the war, freeing the slaves in the seceded southern states but not the slaves in the crucial border states. This paved the way for eventual emancipation of all the slaves.
Old Abe's Republican platform wasn't about the abolition of slavery, it was simply meant for the preservation of the Union. Not wanting and side conflicts to arise, he would simply wait to sign the Emancipation Proclamation for what was believed to be a quick war to end first.
The Union's arrogance was shattered after their crushing defeat at Bull Run. A small band of southern rebels sent the federal army literally running for the hills, however the southern army had superior commanders throughout the majority of the war.
Lincoln wanted to get a huge ordeal(in a good way) made out of the war. So his cabinet advised him to wait for a string of Union victories before he unleashed the incredibly momentous document. It was after the Union victory at Antietam in 1863, that the the political trap was sprung. It quickly rallied the North to fight even more fervor than before. This freed the slaves in the seceded Southern Sates which some were occupied by the North now. However, it was not in effect in the border states, but it was all in due time when freedom rang from sea to shining sea.
Although Abe Lincoln spoke out against slavery since the 1850s as "an unqualified evil", he did not pass the emancipation proclamation right away for several reasons: the constitutional protection of slavery, the fear that premature action could be overturned in the next election, and the prejudices of many northerners. He delayed the announcement of the policy until he could win the support of the northern conservatives, which he would not have been successful if he had pushed the issue at the start of the Civil War. The Emanicpation Proclamation changed the perception of the war from a conflict to perserve the Union to a war to end slavery. The proclamation added weight to the Confiscation acts and increased the number of slaves who sought freedom by fleeing to Union lines. As the Union advanced south, the result was more slaves were freed.
Abe Lincoln and the Republican party stood firmly behind their preservation of the union platform. Although he was against slavery, he knew that the timing of freeing them was important. Slaves were freed druing the Civil war as a result of military events like the Battle of Antietam, govermental policies, like the Confiscation Acts, and their own actions.
Upon entering office in 1861 Lincoln first and main priority was to preserve the union. Even if this meant leaving the slaves in slavery. He faced lots of opposition. Many men didn’t want to fight for the war if it was specifically about slavery while others wanted Lincoln to go ahead a free the slaves. When Lincoln made the emancipation proclamation in 1863 he changed the whole face of the war. It would stop foreign countries from coming to the South’s aid as well as inspire more union troops to go to battle. The emancipatition was made after the union barely won the battle of Antietam. It was hoped to show that the North would win the war and was overall stronger than the South.
Abraham Lincoln is remembered historically as the president that brought an end to slavery in the United States and the antebellum era in the South. However, it is worth noting that Lincoln did not originally have an agenda of complete abolition when he ran for the presidency. Lincoln ran for office in 1860 under the premise of putting an end to the expansion of slavery, but not eradicating it altogether.
Lincoln’s election in 1860 is the spark that lit the fire fueling the South’s fear that the government’s mindset was leaning more towards a northern ideology than a southern one; people in the South feared losing the institution of slavery that had been the backbone for southern industry and economy for years. This fear led to the South’s succession in 1861.
Lincoln’s initial refusal to emancipate all slaves at the war’s outset was primarily due to the North’s confidence that they would emerge victorious as well as a Northern fear that fighting a war based on emancipating slaves would be too extreme of a platform, leading to boarder states such as Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia, among others, to side with the South. As the war progressed, the South proved to be a much stronger foe than the North had anticipated, which led to Lincoln passing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The desired effect of this document was to knock the South off-balance, and it succeeded in doing so. Slaves fled from their southern oppressors, leading to a rally of support for the North and a decrease in the overall production levels in the South. The proclamation was one of the key reasons that the North went on to win the war and reunify the nation.
At first Lincoln's biggest concern in office was to help the union. He wasn't there to stop slavery, he just wanted to end the spread of it. And at first he thought that it was going to be hard to stop the spreading. Because of the constitutional law allowing slavery and also the Northerner's strong support of it. But after the battle of Antietam everything changed.
The battle of Antietam began September 16, 1862 and ended 2 days later in Sharpsburg, Maryland. This war was named the "bloodiest day in American history". But it's mostly known for being the battle that gave Lincoln the courage and confidence to present the Emancipation Proclamation(1863). Which freed all slaves and also tried to convince the governments of Britan and France to not give any recognition to the confederacy.
The Emancipation Proclamation was not signed until 1863 because Lincoln needed time to gain that confidence to introduce it. And the battle of Antietam is what gave him that confidence.
When the Civil War first started in 1861, President Lincoln and the Republican Party had no intentions of freeing slaves. The Civil War was the cause of the expansion of slavery, and the war itself was used as a reason to simply restore and unite the Union. President Lincoln was also afraid to get rid of slavery because he thought that many of the bordering states such as Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri, would seceed along with the other Confederate States.
The North thought that the war was going to be relatively short. Many viewed the war as a joke, and thought that it was going to last about 90 days. As the Union was crushed in a battle at Bull Run, it showed that the war was going to take a while.
After the Second Battle of Bull Run, where the North was victorious, Lincoln began drafting his ideas for the Emancipation Proclamation. The Battle of Antietam, which was the bloodiest battle in history, was also the turning point of this war. The outcome of this battle also changed the purposes of this war for the North. A Union victory displayed the power of the North, and was just what Lincoln needed to announce his plan. He cleverly used this time to announce his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
President Lincoln used the victory at Antietem in 1863 as an oppurtunity to end slavery. He talked about freeing slaves in seceeded states but not bordering states. This gave the war more reasons to fight the war:to reunite the Union, and to free slavery.
In the Republican platform for the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln did not intend on freeing the slaves, but simply to prevent the expansion of slavery in the western territories. His main goal was to preserve of the Union, which was his main justification for the Civil War. The North, with their many advantages such as their total population, expected the Civil War to be a quick ordeal and they felt that emancipation was not required for a victory in 1861.
The battle at Fort Sumter, which was the first battle of the war, proved that the North’s assumptions were wrong. The South, having the better generals, proved that they were capable of fighting and winning the war against the North. Also after the battle, four other states (Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina) joined the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Lincoln feared that the border slave states (Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) would secede as well and provide the South with a doubled the manufacturing, and would also leave the capital surrounded by the Southern territory.
But once the North started winning some battles, Lincoln now was backed by popular support in the Union cause and decided to write and signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to create motivation and a moral purpose for the war, freeing the slaves. This was shocking to the Republican Party because the party’s platform only wanted to prevent slavery in the new territories, not to free the slaves in the South. But because of this, it brought the Union closer together and gave them even more of a reason to fight and win the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. His view on slavery was that it should not be expanded, but outlawed in new territory. This was also the Republican platform. If President Lincoln changed his view publicly, he would lose many supporters which would be devastating to the Union's strategy.
Additionally, the border states were very crucial to the Union's success in the war. These border states were states with slavery that hadn't seceded yet. If these states seceded, the Union's capital (Washington D.C.) would be surrounded in the Confederacy. Before 1863, Lincoln was forced to say that the war was to preserve the Union only.
After the Battle of Antietam, many people were against slavery anywhere in the United States. Now having support, Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, but only freed slaves in the Confederacy, and not the border states. Basically, he freed slaves where he couldn't and kept slavery where he could have freed them.
The results of the election of 1860 caused Republican Abraham Lincoln to win the election. Abraham wasn't the man he becomes later in history, first with the Republican party wanted to stop slavery from advancing to the new territories in the United States they had no intention of abolishing slavery. And Abraham was the type of man that just wanted to help his country. But as the battles in the Civil War started to get more and more chaotic. Abraham's mind-set started to change.
In the election of 1860 sparked off the South's fear of slavery being abolished from the government. They feared that they were going to lose all the slaves that they owned and especially lose all the power that they had in the government. So this is why South Carolina wanted to succession from the country and they wanted to be their own country.
From the South's succession this caused the Civil War to begun. From the very first battle of the Civil War the South had more an upper-advanceded than the North did cause the South had better generals than the North did. From the South having those great leaders they kept winning most of the battles of the war. The South needed to stop winning the battles! And the only way to stop the South was to destroy what they loved the most and that was slavery. If the North took down slavery the South wouldn't have that much power as they did before. And Abraham Lincoln proposed the Emancipation Proclamation at the battle of Antietam, which declared that the all slaves were now free. This simple document caused the South to fall in thw war and gained the North their victories in this war.
Lincoln called for the emancipation of slaves in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation instead of 1861 due to the lack of support during that time.
The start of the war was between the North who wanted to preserve the union and the South who saw their rights as states being imposed on. The Republican Party only sought to stop the expansion of slavery, not cease it all together. On top of this, there still existed union-slave states that were prone to join the South at a moment's notice. If Lincoln had even attempted to immediately abolish slavery, he would have probably lost the slave states to the South while losing Republican supporters at the same time. During this time, Lincoln had yet to prove himself as a capable leader and as someone the American's could completely trust.
When 1863 came about, Lincoln had nearly the full support of the Union, enough to call for the Emancipation Proclamation. Having proved himself as strong President in the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, his newfound confidence encouraged him to free slaves as well as discouraging Great Britain and France from officially recognizing the Confederate States as a nation.
It wasn't until 1863 that Lincoln committed the war effort to the emancipation of slaves because not a whole lot of people (including northerners) would back it. He couldn't show even a sign of it until he had evidence that the Union could, in fact, win the war. Lincoln also had to find a way to not offend the border states so they wouldn't join the confederacy. The Union wouldn't have won if that had happened because the Ohio river and its tributaries and the stock piles of supplies were too valualbe and too crucial in the war to lose.
By 1863 and with enough wins for the Union, Lincoln was able to issue the Emancipation Proclomation without too many serious repercussions, and without the border states getting mad. the only problem was, it only freed the slaves that the Union didn't have control over. In essence, it didn't do anything, at least until later.
The reason that lincoln did not commit to freeing the slaves in 1861 was for two main reasons. First off he would have never gotten any support to do it in the beginning of the war and second because when the war started he was more concerned with preserving the union then freeing the slaves. In fact the arguments he had about slavery weren't actually about freeing the slaves it was more about stopping the expansion of slaves. At the beginning of the war lincoln had no intention of freeing the slaves he only was focused on keeping the country together. Finally in 1863 with the support of the entire union he decided to issue the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves.
Lincoln waited until 1863 to commit the Union to the emancipation of slaves because at first the Republican Party’s platform only involved preserving the Union. Also Lincoln waited until 1863 to deliver his Emancipation Proclamation because it was after the Battle of Antietam. As the Civil War dragged on Lincoln gave another motive for the war by creating his Emancipation Proclamation.
As the Republican Party’s nominee, Lincoln was a supporter of abolition. But the Republican Party's platform at first was to prevent the further expansion of slavery in the new territories. The Republican Party’s platform helped Lincoln get into office by not taking a strong stance for or against slavery. Lincoln also delayed the emancipation of the slaves in order to secure the Border States which had slavery but remained loyal to the Union, one being Maryland, the location of the Union’s capital.
At first the North thought the Civil War was going to be a quick and easy victory. As the war dragged on Lincoln introduced his Emancipation Proclamation in order to give the war a new cause. After the Battle of Antietam in 1862 Lincoln felt the time was right to address the emancipation of the slaves as this was the first battle of the Civil War that the North had not lost. Now not only was the North fighting the war in order to preserve the Union, but also to free the slaves.
At the beginning of the Civil War there was no major support for the emancipation of the slaves. Lincoln wanted to secure the Border State’s loyalty to the Union while also adding another reason for the Union to fight the war.
In 1863 President Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the United States. He chose to emancipate the slaves in 1863 instead of 1861, when he was first elected, because of the Republican Party Platform and the wish to preserve the Union.
ReplyDeleteIn the election of 1860, the Republican Party platform said that slavery should not be expanded to any new territories, but it could exist in states that were already slave states. They did not believe in the immediate emancipation of slaves. No parties, at that time, did. Lincoln, however, promoted the emancipation of slaves by paying for their freedom. Lincoln probably had to wait until public opinion was in his favor to enact the Emancipation Proclamation.
In addition, after the battle of Fort Sumter, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded and joined the Confederate States of America. The border states, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri could have gone either way- they could have seceded or stayed with the Union. Since these were slave states, Lincoln took several measures to keep them with the Union. These states would have given the Confederacy a huge advantage since they contained a lot of manufacturing and had more than half the white population of the entire Confederacy. Lincoln's position was that the war was to preserve the union and not to free the slaves. He also sent troops into Maryland and declared martial law because of Washington D.C.'s location inside of it. He also sent soldiers into Virginia and Missouri where they helped fight the local civil wars. If Lincoln had emancipated the slaves in 1861, the border states might have seceded and the south could have won the war.
When the Civil War began in 1861, the North was under the impression of a ninety-day war in which Abraham Lincoln declared he had no intention of interfering with slavery where it existed. At the time, the war was viewed as a quick suppression of the South to prove Northern superiority and restore the Union. So in 1861, a need was not seen for an emancipation. It was only later that it was shown the Civil War would not be a short or an easy one to win, and that a greater moral purpose may be needed.
ReplyDeleteDuring the course of the war, after the Battle of Bull Run, was when President Lincoln began to draft his Emancipation Proclamation. The battle, under the generals Robert E. Lee of the Confederates and George B. McClellan of the Union, resulted in a devastating Union loss. And although the Confederates lost twice as many men (20,000 compared to McClellan’s 10,000), the battle was key. It ensured the South that if it lost, they would lose slavery as well. Lincoln claimed the Union “cannot experiment for ten years trying to destroy the government and... still come back into the Union unhurt”.
Lincoln used the Union “victory” at Antietam, which was more of a display of the Union’s power than an actual victory, to announce his Proclamation. With popular support behind the Union cause, Lincoln added a moral purpose behind the Union’s already strong political one. Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation two months after the Battle of Bull Run, but it did not take affect until January of 1863. This also ensured the neutrality of the border states, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri, who were also slave states and could easily side with the Confederacy if slavery was threatened outright. Even when the Emancipation was introduced, it was more of a general idea than a federal law. Although it freed the slaves in the seceded Southern territories, it did not free those in the key border states.
Lincoln’s Proclamation was delayed so as to ensure greater popular support when it was introduced, retain the security and loyalty of the border states, and add a greater moral purpose to the war.
The North had no intention of freeing the slaves in the South when the war began in 1861. When Lincoln ran for presidency during the election of 1860, the Republican platform supported stopping expansion of slavery, but the overall issue of slavery was too controversial to firmly take a side and probably would have cost them the election. Lincoln was concerned with preserving the Union, and focused on that.
ReplyDeleteWhen the North engaged in the war with the Confederacy, they were expecting a quick victory because they outnumbered and out resourced the South. However, after they began to lose and the war dragged on for a lot longer than they expected, the Union formulated the ‘Anaconda Plan.’ This plan involved undermining Southern power, taking over the capital in Richmond, Virginia, and splitting the Confederacy up into smaller areas to conquer. Lincoln had been supporting the freedom of slaves since he was in office by offering to pay for their freedom, but he later wrote the Emancipation Proclamation that would free all the slaves in the South after the Union suffered a huge loss at the Battle at Bull Run.
He didn’t publicly release the Emancipation Proclamation till 1863 because he was advised to wait till the North had a few strong victories to support his new cause. Lincoln used the battle at Antietam to release the Proclamation. Lincoln used the Proclamation to add a greater moral purpose to the war and further build public support.
The Republican Party's platform was to prevent further expansion of slavery in the new territories and they never intended to abolish slavery completely. Lincoln himself believed in the gradual abolition of slavery. When the civil war first started, the North thought that it would be short and quick. As the war dragged on however, the North needed something else to restore the Union.
ReplyDeleteLincoln's biggest goal was to preserve the Union and he knew that if he abolished slavery, the border slave states that had remained loyal to the Union would secede as well. These border states held a huge proportion of the northern manufacturing as well as population. Losing these states to the confederacy would put the north in a disadvantage. The Union couldn't afford to lose more states especially after Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansa seceded after the battle of Fort Sumter.
The Union's victory at Antietam showed the North's superiority and Lincoln took this as an opportunity to issue a decree. The decree stated that if the confederate states did not return to the Union, slaves in those states would be freed. When no states took the offer, Lincoln finally declared the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the United States.
The Civil War began in 1861 as a war to “preserve the Union.” Expected to be a quick and easy war favoring the North no one expected the major war that came to be. With the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 the war evolved into something even bigger. Not only was the north fighting to save our country, but also to free the slaves.
ReplyDeleteWhen Lincoln had been running to become president, he had promised that he would not emancipate the slaves. Lincoln was originally against the expansion of slavery but was not totally against slavery. Therefore in 1861 Lincoln did not want to go back on the Republican platform, especially on a topic as sensitive as slavery.
Originally the Lincoln was scared to abolish slavery in fear of losing support in the border states. These states contained valuable land, soldiers, and supplies. Without their support the north probably would not have won the war. In 1863 with our country in the midst of a brutal civil war Lincoln saw this as the perfect time to free the slaves. The north had begun doing better in battles at this point Lincoln felt secure enough to issue the proclamation. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not have a large instant effect it was a large step in the direction of abolition of slavery.
- jordan tabor
At the beginning when Abraham Lincoln was running for president, the Republican platform was only to stop the expansion of slavery, not to eradicate it. When the War first started, the North thought it would only last ninety days, but it turned out to be four years.
ReplyDeleteAbraham Lincoln's goal at first was only to save the Union, so he knew that if he abolished slavery, it would turn all the southern states against him including the indecisive border states. And since the capital was in Maryland, which was a slave state, Lincoln couldn't afford to lose any more states, so he kept slavery out of the issue.
Due to inexperienced generals and incapable soldiers, the North lost badly at the beginning because the generals of the South were all trained during the Mexican-American War, and their soldiers were use to physical labor from the farms.
However, with the Union's "victory" at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln took this chance to issue the Emancipation Proclamation that said slaves in the unconquered southern states were freed, but not in the border states or already conquered territories. Lincoln basically freed those who he was in no power to free, and didn't free those that he could. He did this because he was afraid that the abolition of slavery in border and conquered states would make them rise up and fight again. Although Lincoln didn't technically free any slaves, this step was the first towards the complete eradication of slaves in the Unites States.
Lincoln’s priority during his term was to restore the Union as a whole. He had doubts that the South would even secede. His platform when he was running was to not end slavery but to prevent the spread of it. He saw how the issue of slavery ended compromises and was tearing up the Union. In the beginning, Lincoln was fighting to preserve the union, not slaves.
ReplyDeleteFort Sumter was a fort in the south that did not relinquish their power to the confederacy. There supplies were running out, so Lincoln decided to send them supplies. He told the governor of South Carolina that he was only shipping supplies but the south believed he was shipping reinforcements. On April 12, 1861, cannons were fired on the fort and it surrendered. This enraged Northerners and Lincoln called for 75,000 men to fight. In response VA, NC, TN, and AR seceded.
The North believed this would be a simple and easy war, only lasting 90 days. They had more people, money, and Railroad tracks for easy transportation of goods. They also had food crops and better factories than the south. The North also had the Border States on their side. Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and West Virginia bordered both the south and north. They were slave states but did not secede. Lincoln told them that the war was to save the union and not free slaves. If he had not declared that, then he would of lost the border states.
On July 16, 1862, the battle of Bull Run was fought. McDowell led the Union soldiers while Jackson led the Confederate soldiers. The Union lost 2,900 men while the South lost 2,000. The North then realized the war would be longer than they thought and this heightened the South’s hope. As the war progressed on the South kept winning. It was during the bloodiest battle of the war that Lincoln declared the Emancipation of Proclamation. These stated slaves were free in not yet conquered Southern territories. Lincoln did not free the slaves in border territory because he feared that they would go to the South side.
The Emancipation Proclamation stirred up much controversy, many soldiers fleed because they were not fighting to free the slaves. In the South, slaves left their plantations and this cut down the work force in the South, which Lincoln had hoped for. Lincoln did not emancipate the slaves in the beginning because he was not fighting for them he was fighting to preserve the union. He also needed soldiers to fight in the war, if he said he was fighting to free the slaves he would not have as many soldiers as he did. Therefore Lincoln was wise in his decision to wait until he declared the Emancipation Proclamation.
In the Republican platform for the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln did not intend on freeing all the slaves, but simply from preventing the expansion of slavery. His main goal was simply the preservation of the Union. After the South’s secession, the North, with their many advantages, expected the Civil War to be a quick ordeal; thus, they felt that emancipation was not required for victory in 1861.
ReplyDeleteThe first battle of the war, Fort Sumter, proved the North’s expectations to be inaccurate. After this battle, the South, with their superior generals and soldiers who were more accustomed to physical work, proved that they were entirely capable of facing the North and that the war would be a long and bloody one. But more importantly, four other states, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy. Lincoln feared the border slaves states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri would secede as well and provide the South with a doubled manufacturing capacity, increase by half their supply of horses and mules, and leave the capital of Washington D.C. in southern hands, and consequently did not free the slaves.
But after the North’s victory at Antietam, Lincoln, now backed by popular support in the Union cause, signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to create a newfound motivation and moral purpose for the war, freeing the slaves in the seceded southern states but not the slaves in the crucial border states. This paved the way for eventual emancipation of all the slaves.
Old Abe's Republican platform wasn't about the abolition of slavery, it was simply meant for the preservation of the Union. Not wanting and side conflicts to arise, he would simply wait to sign the Emancipation Proclamation for what was believed to be a quick war to end first.
ReplyDeleteThe Union's arrogance was shattered after their crushing defeat at Bull Run. A small band of southern rebels sent the federal army literally running for the hills, however the southern army had superior commanders throughout the majority of the war.
Lincoln wanted to get a huge ordeal(in a good way) made out of the war. So his cabinet advised him to wait for a string of Union victories before he unleashed the incredibly momentous document. It was after the Union victory at Antietam in 1863, that the the political trap was sprung. It quickly rallied the North to fight even more fervor than before. This freed the slaves in the seceded Southern Sates which some were occupied by the North now. However, it was not in effect in the border states, but it was all in due time when freedom rang from sea to shining sea.
Although Abe Lincoln spoke out against slavery since the 1850s as "an unqualified evil", he did not pass the emancipation proclamation right away for several reasons: the constitutional protection of slavery, the fear that premature action could be overturned in the next election, and the prejudices of many northerners. He delayed the announcement of the policy until he could win the support of the northern conservatives, which he would not have been successful if he had pushed the issue at the start of the Civil War. The Emanicpation Proclamation changed the perception of the war from a conflict to perserve the Union to a war to end slavery. The proclamation added weight to the Confiscation acts and increased the number of slaves who sought freedom by fleeing to Union lines. As the Union advanced south, the result was more slaves were freed.
ReplyDeleteAbe Lincoln and the Republican party stood firmly behind their preservation of the union platform. Although he was against slavery, he knew that the timing of freeing them was important. Slaves were freed druing the Civil war as a result of military events like the Battle of Antietam, govermental policies, like the Confiscation Acts, and their own actions.
-scott shortino
Upon entering office in 1861 Lincoln first and main priority was to preserve the union. Even if this meant leaving the slaves in slavery. He faced lots of opposition. Many men didn’t want to fight for the war if it was specifically about slavery while others wanted Lincoln to go ahead a free the slaves.
ReplyDeleteWhen Lincoln made the emancipation proclamation in 1863 he changed the whole face of the war. It would stop foreign countries from coming to the South’s aid as well as inspire more union troops to go to battle. The emancipatition was made after the union barely won the battle of Antietam. It was hoped to show that the North would win the war and was overall stronger than the South.
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ReplyDeleteAbraham Lincoln is remembered historically as the president that brought an end to slavery in the United States and the antebellum era in the South. However, it is worth noting that Lincoln did not originally have an agenda of complete abolition when he ran for the presidency. Lincoln ran for office in 1860 under the premise of putting an end to the expansion of slavery, but not eradicating it altogether.
ReplyDeleteLincoln’s election in 1860 is the spark that lit the fire fueling the South’s fear that the government’s mindset was leaning more towards a northern ideology than a southern one; people in the South feared losing the institution of slavery that had been the backbone for southern industry and economy for years. This fear led to the South’s succession in 1861.
Lincoln’s initial refusal to emancipate all slaves at the war’s outset was primarily due to the North’s confidence that they would emerge victorious as well as a Northern fear that fighting a war based on emancipating slaves would be too extreme of a platform, leading to boarder states such as Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia, among others, to side with the South. As the war progressed, the South proved to be a much stronger foe than the North had anticipated, which led to Lincoln passing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The desired effect of this document was to knock the South off-balance, and it succeeded in doing so. Slaves fled from their southern oppressors, leading to a rally of support for the North and a decrease in the overall production levels in the South. The proclamation was one of the key reasons that the North went on to win the war and reunify the nation.
At first Lincoln's biggest concern in office was to help the union. He wasn't there to stop slavery, he just wanted to end the spread of it. And at first he thought that it was going to be hard to stop the spreading. Because of the constitutional law allowing slavery and also the Northerner's strong support of it. But after the battle of Antietam everything changed.
ReplyDeleteThe battle of Antietam began September 16, 1862 and ended 2 days later in Sharpsburg, Maryland. This war was named the "bloodiest day in American history". But it's mostly known for being the battle that gave Lincoln the courage and confidence to present the Emancipation Proclamation(1863). Which freed all slaves and also tried to convince the governments of Britan and France to not give any recognition to the confederacy.
The Emancipation Proclamation was not signed until 1863 because Lincoln needed time to gain that confidence to introduce it. And the battle of Antietam is what gave him that confidence.
When the Civil War first started in 1861, President Lincoln and the Republican Party had no intentions of freeing slaves. The Civil War was the cause of the expansion of slavery, and the war itself was used as a reason to simply restore and unite the Union. President Lincoln was also afraid to get rid of slavery because he thought that many of the bordering states such as Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri, would seceed along with the other Confederate States.
ReplyDeleteThe North thought that the war was going to be relatively short. Many viewed the war as a joke, and thought that it was going to last about 90 days. As the Union was crushed in a battle at Bull Run, it showed that the war was going to take a while.
After the Second Battle of Bull Run, where the North was victorious, Lincoln began drafting his ideas for the Emancipation Proclamation. The Battle of Antietam, which was the bloodiest battle in history, was also the turning point of this war. The outcome of this battle also changed the purposes of this war for the North. A Union victory displayed the power of the North, and was just what Lincoln needed to announce his plan. He cleverly used this time to announce his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
President Lincoln used the victory at Antietem in 1863 as an oppurtunity to end slavery. He talked about freeing slaves in seceeded states but not bordering states. This gave the war more reasons to fight the war:to reunite the Union, and to free slavery.
In the Republican platform for the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln did not intend on freeing the slaves, but simply to prevent the expansion of slavery in the western territories. His main goal was to preserve of the Union, which was his main justification for the Civil War. The North, with their many advantages such as their total population, expected the Civil War to be a quick ordeal and they felt that emancipation was not required for a victory in 1861.
ReplyDeleteThe battle at Fort Sumter, which was the first battle of the war, proved that the North’s assumptions were wrong. The South, having the better generals, proved that they were capable of fighting and winning the war against the North. Also after the battle, four other states (Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina) joined the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Lincoln feared that the border slave states (Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) would secede as well and provide the South with a doubled the manufacturing, and would also leave the capital surrounded by the Southern territory.
But once the North started winning some battles, Lincoln now was backed by popular support in the Union cause and decided to write and signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to create motivation and a moral purpose for the war, freeing the slaves. This was shocking to the Republican Party because the party’s platform only wanted to prevent slavery in the new territories, not to free the slaves in the South. But because of this, it brought the Union closer together and gave them even more of a reason to fight and win the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. His view on slavery was that it should not be expanded, but outlawed in new territory. This was also the Republican platform. If President Lincoln changed his view publicly, he would lose many supporters which would be devastating to the Union's strategy.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, the border states were very crucial to the Union's success in the war. These border states were states with slavery that hadn't seceded yet. If these states seceded, the Union's capital (Washington D.C.) would be surrounded in the Confederacy. Before 1863, Lincoln was forced to say that the war was to preserve the Union only.
After the Battle of Antietam, many people were against slavery anywhere in the United States. Now having support, Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, but only freed slaves in the Confederacy, and not the border states. Basically, he freed slaves where he couldn't and kept slavery where he could have freed them.
The results of the election of 1860 caused Republican Abraham Lincoln to win the election. Abraham wasn't the man he becomes later in history, first with the Republican party wanted to stop slavery from advancing to the new territories in the United States they had no intention of abolishing slavery. And Abraham was the type of man that just wanted to help his country. But as the battles in the Civil War started to get more and more chaotic. Abraham's mind-set started to change.
ReplyDeleteIn the election of 1860 sparked off the South's fear of slavery being abolished from the government. They feared that they were going to lose all the slaves that they owned and especially lose all the power that they had in the government. So this is why South Carolina wanted to succession from the country and they wanted to be their own country.
From the South's succession this caused the Civil War to begun. From the very first battle of the Civil War the South had more an upper-advanceded than the North did cause the South had better generals than the North did. From the South having those great leaders they kept winning most of the battles of the war. The South needed to stop winning the battles! And the only way to stop the South was to destroy what they loved the most and that was slavery. If the North took down slavery the South wouldn't have that much power as they did before. And Abraham Lincoln proposed the Emancipation Proclamation at the battle of Antietam, which declared that the all slaves were now free. This simple document caused the South to fall in thw war and gained the North their victories in this war.
Lincoln called for the emancipation of slaves in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation instead of 1861 due to the lack of support during that time.
ReplyDeleteThe start of the war was between the North who wanted to preserve the union and the South who saw their rights as states being imposed on. The Republican Party only sought to stop the expansion of slavery, not cease it all together. On top of this, there still existed union-slave states that were prone to join the South at a moment's notice. If Lincoln had even attempted to immediately abolish slavery, he would have probably lost the slave states to the South while losing Republican supporters at the same time. During this time, Lincoln had yet to prove himself as a capable leader and as someone the American's could completely trust.
When 1863 came about, Lincoln had nearly the full support of the Union, enough to call for the Emancipation Proclamation. Having proved himself as strong President in the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, his newfound confidence encouraged him to free slaves as well as discouraging Great Britain and France from officially recognizing the Confederate States as a nation.
Evan van Aalst
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't until 1863 that Lincoln committed the war effort to the emancipation of slaves because not a whole lot of people (including northerners) would back it. He couldn't show even a sign of it until he had evidence that the Union could, in fact, win the war. Lincoln also had to find a way to not offend the border states so they wouldn't join the confederacy. The Union wouldn't have won if that had happened because the Ohio river and its tributaries and the stock piles of supplies were too valualbe and too crucial in the war to lose.
By 1863 and with enough wins for the Union, Lincoln was able to issue the Emancipation Proclomation without too many serious repercussions, and without the border states getting mad. the only problem was, it only freed the slaves that the Union didn't have control over. In essence, it didn't do anything, at least until later.
The reason that lincoln did not commit to freeing the slaves in 1861 was for two main reasons. First off he would have never gotten any support to do it in the beginning of the war and second because when the war started he was more concerned with preserving the union then freeing the slaves. In fact the arguments he had about slavery weren't actually about freeing the slaves it was more about stopping the expansion of slaves. At the beginning of the war lincoln had no intention of freeing the slaves he only was focused on keeping the country together. Finally in 1863 with the support of the entire union he decided to issue the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves.
ReplyDeleteLincoln waited until 1863 to commit the Union to the emancipation of slaves because at first the Republican Party’s platform only involved preserving the Union. Also Lincoln waited until 1863 to deliver his Emancipation Proclamation because it was after the Battle of Antietam. As the Civil War dragged on Lincoln gave another motive for the war by creating his Emancipation Proclamation.
ReplyDeleteAs the Republican Party’s nominee, Lincoln was a supporter of abolition. But the Republican Party's platform at first was to prevent the further expansion of slavery in the new territories. The Republican Party’s platform helped Lincoln get into office by not taking a strong stance for or against slavery. Lincoln also delayed the emancipation of the slaves in order to secure the Border States which had slavery but remained loyal to the Union, one being Maryland, the location of the Union’s capital.
At first the North thought the Civil War was going to be a quick and easy victory. As the war dragged on Lincoln introduced his Emancipation Proclamation in order to give the war a new cause. After the Battle of Antietam in 1862 Lincoln felt the time was right to address the emancipation of the slaves as this was the first battle of the Civil War that the North had not lost. Now not only was the North fighting the war in order to preserve the Union, but also to free the slaves.
At the beginning of the Civil War there was no major support for the emancipation of the slaves. Lincoln wanted to secure the Border State’s loyalty to the Union while also adding another reason for the Union to fight the war.