The Pros And Cons Of The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebel states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” This proclamation was an important step towards abolishing slavery and conferring American citizenship upon ex-slaves, although the proclamation did not actually outlaw slavery or free the slaves in the Union states that still permitted it (“The Immediate Effects”). The proclamation also broadened the goals of the Union war effort, because it made the abolition of slavery into an explicit Union goal, in addition to the reuniting of the country. As a matter of fact, not only did the Emancipation Proclamation proclaim the freedom of slaves in the ten Confederate states still in rebellion, but it also ordered that freed slaves could be enlisted in the Union Army, thereby increasing the Union’s …show more content…
Also, they believed the Britain, with its heavy dependence on Southern cotton to supply its mills, would be at worst neutral with a bias in their favor and they dreamed of direct European assistance (“Southern Strategy”). Specifically, their strategies included privateering in the Atlantic to harass New England merchants with ships like the Alabama and putting pressure on Washington DC, whose city limits fronted on the Confederate state of Virginia. Since the South did not intend to occupy and hold Northern territory, the South believed that they would be fighting principally in defense of their homeland and their soldiers would consequently have greater morale and stronger commitment to the