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Why Did Lincoln Issue The Emancipation Proclamation In January 1863 And What Were Its Consequences? Essay, Research Paper

During his election campaign and throughout the early years of the Civil War, Lincoln vehemently denied the rumour that he would mount an attack on slavery. At the outbreak of fighting, he pledged to ?restore the Union, but accept slavery where it existed?, with Congress supporting his position via the Crittendon-Johnson Resolutions. However, during 1862 Lincoln was persuaded for a number of reasons that Negro emancipation as a war measure was both essential and sound. Public opinion seemed to be going that way, Negro slaves were helping the Southern war effort, and a string of defeats had left Northern morale low. A new moral boost to the cause might give weary Union soldiers added impetus in the fight. Furthermore, if the Union fought against slavery, Britain and France could not help the other side, since their ?peculiar institution? was largely abhorred in both European nations. Having eased the American public into the idea, through speeches that hinted at emancipation, Lincoln finally signed the Proclamation on January 1st 1863, releasing all slaves behind rebel lines. Critics argued that the proclamation went little further than the Second Confiscation Act and it conveniently failed to release prisoners behind Union lines. Nevertheless, Henry Adams summed up public reaction to the Proclamation as an ?almost convulsive reaction in our favour?.

During 1862, the abolition movement enjoyed previously unparalleled levels of support and respectability. Wendell Phillips gave rousing speeches in towns where only a year previously, he would have feared for his life. Senator John Sherman wrote to his brother, the general: ?You can form no conception of the change of opinion here as to the Nero question. I am prepared for one to meet the broad issue of emancipation.? A New-England, and therefore radical-dominated Congress received a flood of anti-slavery bills, which they eagerly turned into law. However, feelings of front-line troops were somewhat different, with horrific reports of violence against Negroes, and a general reluctance to further the cause of emancipation. Most soldiers shared the view of a New York private, who wrote: ?we must first conquer, and then it is time enough to talk about the dam?d niggers.? Even those regiments who welcomed black contrabands set them to menial work such as cooking and washing clothes.

The circumstances generated by the war forced generals to make decisions about what to do with escaped slaves who sought refuge in their lines. Some, like Butler in May 1861, put Negroes to work, while others went much further. In August 1861, John C Fremont declared all slaves belonging to rebels free, while Hunter declared all slaves in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to be free. Neither general had consulted Lincoln; both earned a rebuke. However, their actions made Lincoln acutely aware of both the need for a policy decision, and the independence with which his generals might interpret one.

Lincoln was not an abolitionist. Rather, he would have preferred to coax slaveholders into freeing their Negroes, through persuasion, compensation, and perhaps gentle coercion. However, during 1862, his position gradually shifted towards emancipation. In March, he offered federal compensation to slaveholders in the border states who released their slaves. This was defeated in Congress through border state opposition. In April, Lincoln successfully abolished slavery in the District of Columbia, with compensation for those affected. In June he outlawed slavery in the territories, and in July he went further still, passing the Second Confiscation Act, which freed the slaves of all those aiding rebellion, perhaps agreeing with George Julian of Indiana, who said in January 1862: ?The four million Negroes cannot be neutral. As labourers, if not soldiers, they will be the allies of the rebels or the Union.?

Lincoln had no desire for said Negroes to be allies of the rebels. The bitter fighting of the Seven Days? campaign, coupled with an intensification of Republican feelings, had moved the conflict towards a total war, not simply to conquer, but to destroy the Old South. Thus, the seizure of rebel property could be justified as a war aim, and brought an emancipation proclamation within Lincoln?s jurisdiction. James McPherson commented, ?July 1862 brought a hardening of attitude in both army and executive?. This is borne out by the actions of newly-appointed Pope, who proved to be a fierce and ruthless general, ordering the seizure of rebel property without compensation, the shooting of captured guerrillas who had fired on Union troops, and the expulsion of any locals who refused to take the oath of allegiance. After January 1st 1863, Lincoln too acknowledged the new turn the war had taken, saying to a colleague; ?The South is to be destroyed and replaced by new propositions and ideas.?

In July, Lincoln tried once again to foist compensated emancipation on the border states. Once again they rejected his proposals, on the grounds that it represented too great a change in their society, and that he was interfering with what was essentially a state matter. This was the last straw for Lincoln, who from then on gave up trying to compromise with border-state conservatives. Soon afterwards he made it know to his cabinet that he was considering an emancipation proclamation. Seward urged him to wait until favourable military news, so that it would not appear; ?the last measure of an exhausted government, a cry for help?. Lincoln heeded this advice, which he later admitted; ?struck me with very great force?.

Emancipation would potentially yield several benefits to the Union, not least in that it would deprive the Confederacy of a significant proportion of their workforce. Public opinion,

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