Emancipation Proclamation Dbq Essay

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For years slavery was an issue but when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued some issues “resolved.” When this freedom statement was being issued to the Union and the Confederacy many slaves gained freedom and were allowed to fight. The Emancipation Proclamation impacted the war greatly due to the freeing of many slaves.
In the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln was trying to free slaves in the Confederate States. “That on the 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state of designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military …show more content…

In this document, African Americans impacted the war due to the amount of deaths and casualties which was about 30,000. "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States." (Frederick Douglass) This quote states that once an African American begins to fight he is a citizen. It tells us once a black man is a soldier there is no doubt he has earned his citizenship.
In the general orders document the African Americans had no say in the recruitment process. I think the flyers appealed to the colored people simply because they talked about freedom and most colored people couldn't read or write so they probably couldn't comprehend the entire flyer and possibly based what they did off of what others told them. To an extent they weren't free still. In the document, it says “Three or more field officers will be detailed as Inspectors to supervise the organization of colored troops at such points as may be indicated by the War Department in the Northern and Western States.” (General Orders)
In conclusion, the Emancipation Proclamation impacted the war greatly due to the amount of slaves that joined the war. They helped increased the numbers of soldiers