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Emancipation Proclamation Essay

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A soldier’s plight to take up arms and answer the nation’s call usually is not met with resistance. However the path to service for the 54th Massachusetts’ all black infantry regiment was different than most soldiers. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation presented an opportunity for freed slaves in the north to fight for their cause. Thus allowing the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment to organize and prepare to join the Union’s army in the Civil War. The assault on Battery Wagner would be the first Civil War battle in which black troops had the opportunity to demonstrate that they could equal their white comrades in courage and determination. President Lincoln would believe the Emancipation Proclamation was a morally correct path. President Abraham Lincoln attempted to frame the Emancipation Proclamation as way to preserve the Union and fend off state secession versus the abolition of slavery. Although not abolitionist, Lincoln’s attitudes toward slavery, race, and Southerners shaped his public positions. He pictured slavery as a menace to white America and an immediate threat to the interests of white men. He depicted slavery as invading not only the territories but the free states as well (Escott, 2014). Before he became president he was staunchly against the expansion of slavery and vigorously rejected that label. Further growth amid the crisis of war would eventually make him an emancipator (Escott, 2014). He knew that Northerners would not

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