The sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, decided to abolish slavery by writing and putting the Emancipation Proclamation into effect. In July 1862, Abraham Lincoln proposed his idea to emancipate to the Cabinet. William Steward, his Secretary of State, advised Lincoln to wait for a Union victory to get government support to enforce the Proclamation. It was issued on September 22, 1862, and took effect on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation stated that any slaves in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia would be free. The slaves in these border states: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri would not be free since they were already a part of the Union. It only applied to the states in the rebellion. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not completely abolish slavery, it led to …show more content…
Colonization was the idea of moving a majority of the African Americans to settle in Africa or Central America. Lincoln publicly stated how he thought colonization could solve slavery since there would not be any blacks to have as slaves. In 1854, he said that what his initial instinct was to free all slaves, and send them to Liberia. Lincoln also did not think blacks and whites should get married to each other. He was against blacks having any of the same rights as whites. Blacks could not vote, serve on juries, or hold office. He did think that blacks, just like whites, should take delight in their work, and that they had the right to better their way of life in society by not being perceived as worthless. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Lincoln saw himself as working with the abolitionists, but he did not reckon himself as one. He gained the respect and support from them, which made him more of a well-liked