False. It was to keep the Union together. Lincoln didn't care jack about black people. He didn't like slavery yes, but he also didn't like black people. The Emancipation Proclamation was more of a "fuck you" to the South than it was to help slaves.
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· 7 years ago
That's not true, he didn't dislike black people and at the start it was his main goal to keep the union together. "If I can preserve the union and free the slaves I will. If I can preserve the union and free half of the slaves I will. If I can free no slaves and preserve the union I will." He wanted to free them, but he realized his first responsibility was to keep his country together. Also, he claimed that the slaves were used in the military as an excuse, he wanted to free them. But you are right that the main goal was to keep the union together, but freedom of blacks was worked into it at some point.
Right on the first part; the war was fought to prevent the Confederate states establishing a new nation, not to end slavery.
Wrong on your second point, however. Lincoln hated slavery and intended to fight to end it from his very first forays into politics in the 1830's. He did not end slavery just to spite the south.
And as far as the Emancipation Proclamation goes, it only effected the states that were at war with the Union. 5 slave states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and the newly formed West Virginia) remained loyal to the North and continued to hold slaves. Lincoln did this for two reasons: he needed to keep those five states from seceding, and his Proclamation was not a law; it fell under his power as commander in chief as a military strategy against an enemy in a time of war. Just a little trivia.
Bullshit about Lincoln not caring about slaves. He was a leading voice of abolitionism, long before the Civil War. His election to the presidency was one of the factors that caused the South to secede.
Though, if I remember right, even though he didn't like slavery, he was also fond of the idea of taking all of them and putting them back somewhere else.
@geluregis I've studied Lincoln in the past and I don't recall that he favored sending the freed slaves anywhere, but I could simply be not remembering. Sending them back to their native Africa was an idea that was going around. In fact, Liberia was founded as a freed slave colony in the early nineteenth century and many freed slaves​ did move there by choice.
Wrong on your second point, however. Lincoln hated slavery and intended to fight to end it from his very first forays into politics in the 1830's. He did not end slavery just to spite the south.
And as far as the Emancipation Proclamation goes, it only effected the states that were at war with the Union. 5 slave states (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and the newly formed West Virginia) remained loyal to the North and continued to hold slaves. Lincoln did this for two reasons: he needed to keep those five states from seceding, and his Proclamation was not a law; it fell under his power as commander in chief as a military strategy against an enemy in a time of war. Just a little trivia.