The Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation is considered to be one of the most impactful documents in history. Many people believe that this document put an immediate end to slavery in the United States, while in reality, its effects on slavery were minimal at first. The southerners believed that they were a separate nation, and therefore, Lincoln had no power over the Confederate States. Slave owners were not willing to give up slavery because it had become an integral part of the southern economy. Slaves were essential to the war efforts, as they were used to reinforce soldiers, transport goods, and work in agricultural labor. 

Lincoln was not an aggressive abolitionist. He disagreed with slavery, but his main focus was the preservation of the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation was aimed at the southern states in rebellion. Slavery was still permitted in the slave states that had not seceded, including Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri. This was an attempt by Lincoln to disarm the Confederacy. Freed slaves were encouraged to fight for the Union against their former slave owners. The Emancipation Proclamation certainly laid the grounds for abolition, but it didn't happen as quickly as Lincoln had hoped. Complete abolition of slavery was a gradual process that took several years. 

The most significant effect of the Emancipation Proclamation is that it completely changed the purpose of the war. The Confederacy had once claimed that they were fighting for states' rights, but this was no longer the case. As a result, Britain and France stopped supporting the Confederacy. The Civil War became a war about slavery, rather than the preservation of the Union. The south lost its support from European countries that had already abolished slavery. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation didn't immediately end slavery, it certainly weakened the Confederacy and helped the Union win the Civil War.
  
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