How Did The Emancipation Proclamation Affect The Civil War

Military and Political leaders have to make vital decisions during wartime that they believe will help their side in their war efforts. The Emancipation Proclamation was conceived as a military order that Lincoln believed would increase manpower in the Union Army. The conditions in late 1862 were grim for the Union Army, especially the Eastern Theatre, as the Confederates won the majority of crucial battles in the war so far. The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order that changed the status of slaves in Confederacy, once the slaves were in land controlled by the United States they were considered free. However, the Emancipation Proclamation applied to Blacks in the Confederacy, and it excluded the slave states that remained loyal to the United States (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri). The Emancipation Proclamation did not provide any benefits to African Americans in the United States with the except of being able to serve in the Army. More importantly, it turned the war into a moral crusade for Northerners and Southerners fear of a Republican abolitionist president was proven to be true. The significance of the Emancipation Proclamation on the Civil War was it sparked the conflict and increased the importance of the war …show more content…
In reality, that was only the case following Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The significance of the Emancipation Proclamation was that it served as turning point in the war. It turned the war from a conflict about the rights of the States into a war over slavery. Both the United States and Confederate had so much more to fight for after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In the North, the war went from being about preserving the Union to abolishing slavery and punishing the South. In the South, losing the war meant the abolishment of slavery. The stakes in the war increased heavily for both sides following the