By 1862, Abraham Lincoln realized that to restore the Union, slavery must end. Politically, Lincoln faced pressure on all sides: from African Americans fleeing bondage, from Union generals acting independently, from Radical Republicans calling for immediate abolition, and from pro-slavery Unionists who opposed emancipation.
The Civil War was fundamentally a conflict over slavery. However, the way Lincoln saw it, emancipation, when it came, would have to be gradual, as the most important thing was to prevent the Southern rebellion from severing the Union permanently in two.
When President Lincoln invoked the international “laws of war” as Commander-in-Chief, he was able to do so to suppress a domestic rebellion.
The Emancipation Proclamation cracked open the institution of slavery, changing the course of the Civil War and the nation. By 1862, Abraham Lincoln realized that to restore the Union, slavery must end.
The Emancipation Proclamation changed the meaning and purpose of the Civil War. The war was no longer just about preserving the Union— it was also about freeing the slaves. Foreign powers such as Britain and France lost their enthusiasm for supporting the Confederacy.
On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.
Impact of the Emancipation Proclamation Black Americans were permitted to serve in the Union Army for the first time, and nearly 200,000 would do so by the end of the war. Finally, the Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for the permanent abolition of slavery in the United States.
From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically.
1) To keep Britain from recognizing the South by appealing to the strong British antislavery feeling. 2) To encourage blacks to join the war effort and fight for the Union. 3) To revive flagging spirits in the North by giving Northerners another reason for fighting the war in addition to preserving the Union.
The Emancipation Proclamation made emancipation an official part of the United States's military strategy. As the US army made its way across the South, it truly became an army of liberation.
The Emancipation Proclamation and the efforts of African American soldiers affected the course of the war in that all slaves would be freed after the war, it increased the North's will to win the war, and it gave the North a reason to keep fighting and to win the Civil War.