AIM 4: What was the Purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation?

Lincoln, like many in the North and even other Republicans, were against freeing the slaves. The war was not supposed to last long because of the great advantages of the North. However the Union’s officers were not as talented as the Southern generals, the Confederate soldiers or rebels were better horsemen & marksmen, & because much of the fighting was in the South, the Confederacy had the advantage of knowing the territory better. Union defeats & losses continued to increase.

As the war dragged on Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to weaken the South & to gain more Northern support. Lincoln also felt that when the war was finally over & the slaves freed & permitted to vote, that they would vote for the _______________ Party.

The Proclamation’s effect on freeing slaves was limited because it only freed slaves in areas not under Union control. Slaves in the Border States were not freed. However it did encourage Northern blacks to join the Union Army. Almost 300,000 blacks volunteered for the army & served with great bravery in segregated units with white officers. The 54^th Massachusetts Regiment became the most well known of these segregated units.

The Union had difficulty drafting soldiers. Copperheads, or Northerners who opposed the war encouraged northern young men to resist the draft. However because the govt. paid a bounty of $300 to volunteers there was little need to draft many soldiers. Many could even buy their way out of the army by paying others to go in their place!

Even so riots broke out on many Northern cities as many young men refused to join the army. Some were recent immigrants who had no desire to fight in an American war, while others felt that freed slaves would come North & take away their jobs by working for lower wages.

One major benefit for Northern factories & industry was that increased govt. spending for war supplies permitted factories to expand, buy more equipment & hire more workers. It also created many millionaires who would use their new wealth to invest in their own & other businesses. This business growth would shortly make the US, by the end of the century the world’s greatest industrial power.

HOMEWORK: Read pgs. 520 – 523. Do pg.506 ques 3A & B & pg. 512 T & N # 3,4 & 7.