While I agree only the North supported the Emancipation Proclamation, it was still a bold move on Lincoln's behalf to issue the Emancipation Proclamation because a large portion of the Northern population did not support the freeing of slaves. They feared integration of blacks into their society. I don't believe Lincoln set out at the beginning of the war to end slavery, although the South opposed Lincoln for this reason. In the beginning of the war Lincoln may have strongly disagreed with slavery, but he was committed to allowing the South to keep slavery as long as it didn't expand and he was a man of his word. According to Stephen B. Oates, in "Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation," "Lincoln was as honest in real life as in the legend." Regardless