Did The Emancipation Proclamation Really Free Anyone

Although Lincoln is known as the President who ended slavery there are underlying aspects Americans do not know. Lincoln did not think of himself as an abolitionist. He did not believe that blacks and whites should have complete equality. The great Emancipation proclamation did not actually end or free slaves. Many were still captive and led a life of bondage. Lincoln felt that slavery was immoral but did not deserve all of the credit for ending slavery. His plan concontained many loopholes.

Abraham Lincoln was not known as a abolitionist. Abraham lincoln did believe that slavery was morally wrong, but there was a big problem: it was sanctioned by the highest law in the land, the Constitution. It was hard to deal with the ending of slavery because the word slavery was not in the Constitution. Slavery was never clearly stated in the Constitution but they did include key clause and the three-fifths clause that allowed Southern states count slaves for the purpose of representation in the federal government. Abraham Lincoln stated more that once he was not sure how to end slavery. “ The nations founding fathers, who also struggled with how to address slavery, did not explicitly write the word “slavery” in the Constitution…”(Pruitt) Abolitionist believed that slavery should be immediately abolished and all the slaves should be set free.

Abraham Lincoln did not believe they should be held against their will but also did not believe they should have the same rights as whites. Abraham Lincoln said like all men the blacks have the rights to improve their society and enjoy the fruits of their labor. “ I will say then that I am not, nor have ever been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the whites and black races,”. Abraham Lincoln said that blacks should not have equality. Lincoln also went under attack from the Democrats who accused him of supporting racial equality. Lincoln also insist that black people were entitled to what they call natural rights of men. (Pruitt, MacGuill)

The Emancipation Proclamation was a Military policy and did not free all slaves. As much as Abraham Lincoln hated slavery, he did not see the civil war as a struggle to free the nations four million slaves form imprisonment. The civil war has gone into its second summer in 1862 and thousands of slaves fled to Southern Plantations to union lines, and the government did not have a clear policy on how to deal with them.

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