Emancipation proclamation historical significance

Provide a comprehensive response to the question(s) below. Be sure to draft your response in your own words (do not quote verbatim from the textbook or internet). Should be 200 - 300 words long.

Read Chapters 13-14 and the Emancipation Proclamation. Once all reading is complete, respond to the following items:

In early 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Why did Lincoln decide to issue the Proclamation at this particular time?
What factors determined this decision?
What did the President hope to gain?
What were the limitations of the Proclamation, and what was its larger historical significance?
The Emancipation Proclamation

·

The Emancipation Proclamation (page 1)
Record Group 11
General Records of the United States

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.