Question

What factors made it difficult for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation even though he was personally against slavery?

Answer 1

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after the election of Lincoln as the 16th president of America, he maintained that the war was about restoreing the Union and not about slavery. Despite the demands of abolitionists and progressive Republicans, and his personal conviction that slavery was morally repugnant, he resisted issuing an anti-slavery declaration immediately. Instead, Lincoln has chosen to move carefully until he can gain broad public support for such a measure.

Lincoln told his cabinet in July 1862 that he would issue a decree of emancipation but that it would exclude the so-called frontier states, which had slaveholders but remained loyal to the Union. His cabinet persuaded him not to make the announcement until after a win over the Party. Lincoln's opportunity came in September 1862 following the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam. The president announced on September 22, that slaves in areas still in rebellion would be free within 100 days.

Backing the Confederacy after the Emancipation Proclamation was seen as favoring slavery. Anti-slavery nations like Great Britain and France, which had been friendly with the Confederacy, became unable to get involved on behalf of the South. The declaration also united and strengthened the Republicans, Lincoln's party, allowing them to remain in power for the next two decades.

answered by: anonymous