abraham lincoln :: essays research papers

Abraham Lincoln As the sixteenth American President, determined to end slavery, Abraham Lincoln finally put an end to his hard work by writing the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln had no intention on freeing slaves when he became president of the U.S.. Although Lincoln always believed slavery was wrong, he always believed in white supremacy. He said, â€Å"If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.† When the war started he thought of it only as a way of saving the union. Later, this opinion would change. There are many pressures faced while being the president. Lincoln faced many of these pressures. Pressure for abolition came into the country. This is how he came up with the idea for writing the emancipation proclamation. This made southern leaders reject Lincoln’s presidency. The pressures forced him to do what he did.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lincoln wrote the Emancipation because of the pressures he was facing. â€Å"On September 22, 1862, five days after Union forces won the battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation. It stated that if rebelling states did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would declare their slaves to be â€Å"forever free.† The south rejected Lincoln’s policy, and so he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.† This caused the southern leaders to turn against Lincoln completely. The emancipation proclamation finally came into effect. On this day Lincoln read his proclamation. This would change the world dramatically. â€Å"By the end of the war, more than 500,000 slaves had fled to freedom behind northern lines. Many of them joined the Union Army or Navy or worked for the armed forces as laborers. By allowing blacks to serve in the Army and Navy, the Emancipation Proclamation helped solve the North’s problem of declining enli stments. About 200, 000 black soldiers and sailors, many of them former slaves, served in the armed forces. Even when the proclamation came into effect it still did not free many slaves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Very few black men were freed from the emancipation, but it caused another huge point to come forth. It showed that the civil war was not being fought to save the union, but once and for all, put an end to slavery. Finally, the civil war ended with the north victorious. With all of the blacks joining the army and Navy, the Unions power was twice as strong, which helped the Union tremendously in winning the war.