Emancipation Proclamation Dbq Essay

Allen Guelzo and Vincent Harding approached Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the eventual abolition of slavery from two very different viewpoints. The major disagreement between them is whether the slaves freed themselves, or Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation freed them. Harding argued the former view, Guelzo took the later. When these essays are compared side by side Guelzo’s is stronger because, unlike Harding, he was able to keep his own views of American race relations out of the essay and presented an argument that was based on more than emotion. Allen Guelzo

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in September 1862. It was President Lincoln's idea during the Civil War. The policy give slaves in the southern states their freedom. It went into affect in January, 1863. Since the slaves were now free, the police invited them to join the northern troupes.

It’s was considered as the act of justice by the Constitution. The Proclamation is also recruited free blacks to join the Union army. For the next few years, thousands of freed slaves and free blacks fought in the Union Army and Navy. Emancipation later became a war for a new birth of Freedom. Lincoln stated after Gettysburg

Introduction: With the Emancipation Proclamation being declared in 1863 by Lincoln and the 13th Amendment being enacted later in 1865 all the slaves were emancipated. Due to the large number of freed slaves many of whom were non educated the equality that became immediately present had to be solved. Unlike other social gaps present in America at the time blacks were not only subjected to the ongoing philosophy of white supremacy but were also the targets of state laws which prohibited blacks from rights guaranteed by the constitution.

These words captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of Americans, and fundamentally transformed the character of the Civil War. This document became a milestone along the path to end slavery. President Lincoln’s decision to end slavery was influenced by a century of debate and influence from public figures like Douglass, Thoreau, and numerous politicians who were committed

Slavery had been abolished in the former Confederacy by the Emancipation Proclamation, delivered by Lincoln in 1863. The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment two years later emphasized the legitimacy of emancipation. Although many white southerners believed freedom meant the ability to control their destiny without interference from the North, the formality of the Thirteenth Amendment displayed great advances for freedom by proclaiming an entire race free from centuries of manipulation. In the immediate aftermath of the amendment’s ratification, nothing changed and the lives of many were not affected. Former slaves did not know where to go or what to do, and some plantation owners even refused to inform their slaves of what had happened.

Slavery, the most intensely debated phenomenon of not only the U.S. but of the our world. Despite the fact that slavery remained at large until the mid 19th century, opposition to slavery had been evolving across the country. There are many underlying forces and specific events that contributed to the opposition of slavery, for instance the abolition movement, Nat Turner’s rebellion, uncle Tom’s Cabin, the disagreement between the American people about slavery, and many others. Not to mention people had their own interest in slavery and it bothered some people in some ways. Opposition to slavery grew since the colonial period, especially in the North, as states Document A. In 1776, Delaware becomes the first state to prohibit the importation of slaves.

[That] Union leaders realized that giving the runaway slaves back to their owners was not an option; it only aided the Confederates cause, [and] by not returning them, the Union not only gained a source of labor - and, later, soldiers - they denied the source of labor to the enemy.” Levine’s comment really confirms that the Emancipation Proclamation and every movement to abolish slavery during the Civil War wasn’t actually to grant the slaves freedom, but rather to weaken the Confederate army and even the Confederate’s labor system. It only appeared to to be such a large movement for anti-slavery because they coincidentally benefitted from these strategic movements by the Union. In addition, the Emancipation Proclamation gained mixed emotions from the northern states, an article in the New York Times recalled that abolitionists “looked glum, and grumbled with dissatisfaction because the unexpected proclamation was only given on account of military necessity.”

The result was the issuing of the “Emancipation Proclamation.” Despite the fact that it merely freed the slaves in the states of the Confederacy where the Union had no power, leaving the institution of slavery untouched in the border states still loyal to the Union, satisfied the demands of blacks and abolitionists at least for the moment. The great value of the Proclamation, besides building support among blacks and abolitionists, was that it brought fear, chaotic despair and deprived the Confederacy of much of its valuable black laboring force. Another aspect of the Emancipation Proclamation was its effect in helping to promote the Draft Riots, which occurred throughout the North in 1863.

Northern freed slaves were encouraged to enlist on the basis that it was a citizen’s responsibility and they were now citizens charged with those responsibilities. Border state slaves, those who had not been immediately freed under the Proclamation were told they would be freed on the spot if they agreed to enlist on the side of the Union. This was a move to hasten the spread of slave freedom and was also a military action to grow the dwindling Union army and push the goal of the war. Though much of the Union army was not at first a friend to the idea, by Lincoln’s hand and encouraging words they came to the understanding that the eradication push was an intelligent move for the war, morally and militarily. By continuing to make the goal of abolition and the protection of the Union one in the same, Lincoln was ensuring that his people would stand behind him.

As the Battle of Antietam closed on September 17, the Union victory made significant ground, which allowed for President Lincoln to release the Emancipation Proclamation with meaning. Warranted by the Constitution and military necessity, the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the states participating in rebellion, ultimately diminishing Southern morale and production. The Emancipation Proclamation reads, “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.” Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation is a very legalistic document, deriving its foundation from the law itself. In a letter to O.H. Browning, Lincoln explained what the document did not allow, “it is not for him to fix their permanent future condition.

It was then that Licoln created the Emancipation Proclamation. In the document, he told all slaves in the South that they were free, including Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. However, the border states, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were states Lincoln didn’t free the slaves in, in order to retain their loyalty and not anger them enough to make them want to secede from the Nation. In order for a slave to be freed in the South, they had to sneak out, and as long as they were not caught trying to flee the South, they were free. Seems like a good play off of Lincoln, right?

Somebody once remarked, “No man is good enough to govern another man without the other's consent” (“Abraham Lincoln Quotes"). At the initial view, the Civil War was going to be won by the South. Nonetheless, all that changed when Abraham Lincoln constructed the Emancipation Proclamation because it did not solely free slaves, it further altered antiquity for the salutary and assisted the North in the war, which led to their triumph. The Emancipation Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln’s greatest achievement as president.

Manning displayed this through this quote from an African American solider, “We of the free states have yielded to this peculiar institution… until it has become so deeply rooted that [removing] it will shake the nation and our institutions to the very center.’ Like many of his fellow enlisted men, Bailey knew a revolution when he saw one (85).” This quote proves that the Emancipation Proclamation did not just free the slaves, but also increased the number of Union troops. This gives the Union an advantage in manpower. Manning then goes on to discuss how religion played in to the war.

On September 2nd, 1862, Abraham Lincoln famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation. After that, there’s been much debate on whether Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation truly played a role in freeing the slaves with many arguments opposing or favoring this issue. In Vincent Harding’s essay, The Blood-red Ironies of God, Harding argues in his thesis that Lincoln did not help to emancipate the slaves but that rather the slaves “self-emancipated” themselves through the war. On the opposition, Allen C Guelzo ’s essay, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America, argues in favor of the Emancipation Proclamation and Guelzo acknowledges Lincoln for the abolishment of slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation.