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How Did Abraham Lincoln Contribute To The Emancipation Proclamation?

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Abraham Lincoln became the President of the United States in 1861 (Current). He is known as the “Great Emancipator” for his act of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the Confederate States of America were no longer to be held captive (Lincoln). This did not actually free any slaves (Emancipation Proclamation Britannica), as there was no way to enforce the new laws. It did, however, rally the troops to fight for a just cause, and it allowed African American soldiers to enter the Union army. The Emancipation Proclamation was an edict issued on the first of January, 1863 (Emancipation Proclamation West). It proclaimed that “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” (Transcript). Despite being seen as a hero for freeing the slaves, Abraham Lincoln actually valued compromise with white Southerners over the freedom of slaves. The most obvious demonstration of this is the fact that Lincoln did not issue the Emancipation Proclamation until two years after the war had begun. Abraham Lincoln waited to issue the Emancipation Proclamation because he used it to bargain with the South and nulled any efforts of others to free the slaves, he cared more about the state of the Union than the freedom of slaves, he was worried about appearing too radical, and he did not listen to the arguments of “radical” African American abolitionists.
Despite its fame, much of the history

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