Emancipation Proclamation Dbq

From the years 1861 to 1865, the United States was going through an internal conflict. Although the country had been in conflicts before, this one was different from any other conflict the nation had faced. This conflict was the civil war and it had divided the nation in two. The confederate states fought against the union states over states' rights to things like slavery. The president at this time was Abraham Lincoln and he supported the union side of the conflict. His support for the union guided his decision-making during the civil war. One of his biggest decisions during the war was the emancipation proclamation. This proclamation stated "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free"

With British antislavery sentiments becoming more prevalent, the president started considering the diplomatic benefits that ending slavery would have for the union army. Although he didn’t start as supportive of this change, on July 22, 1862, Lincoln announced that he intended to free all slaves that were in rebellion against the union. Since this was a military decision, he held off on actually putting the proclamation in place until a union victory occurred on the battlefield. The victory they were hoping for occurred on September 17 of that same year. Here they repelled Robert E. Lee’s forces and returned to Virginia and they kept the confederacy from being recognized by

Although the Emancipation Proclamation had its many immediately felt constraints for the enslaved people, it also led many of these enslaved people to the armed services of the union. Since the war to save the union was seemingly becoming the war to free the slaves as well, the support for the union side was increasing. This increase in union support helped progress the war in favor of the union; just as the president had hoped initially. Embracing the proclamation was something blacks of all communities were celebrating. Especially in the southern states now controlled by the union, the formerly enslaved people were celebrating and gathering in the name of the proclamation. This activity spread as the union forces advanced into the confederate territory. This joyous behavior from black people also led more of them to join the union army by choice. In May of 1863, a bureau was created specifically for the colored troops which eventually led 179,000 black men to enlist, taking up 10 percent of the union army. This large uptake in black slaves in the union army helped boost the union politically and militarily because it helped change the war to a fight for freedom. Being a fight for freedom made the United States look better politically because other countries were doing similar things within their nations so the U.S. would have a better standing with the other nations.