Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln viewed slavery in the idea that "Slavery is a moral, social and political evil,” (necessary evil) and felt it was more important to ensure the preservation of the union as stated in his inaugural speech. However, during his years Lincoln faced a lot of pressure by abolitionists and radical Republicans in congress to issue an Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves. He also dealt with the issue of whether to let Negros fight in the Union Army.

Lincoln and the North entered the war to preserve the Union rather than to free the slaves, but within a relatively short time emancipation became an accepted as an aim of the war. Neither Congress nor the president knew exactly what constitutional powers they had in this area; according to the Dred Scott decision, they had none. But Lincoln believed that the Constitution gave the Union whatever powers it needed to preserve itself, and that he, as commander-in-chief, had the authority to use those powers.

In the fall of 1862, after the Union army victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation, warning that on January 1, 1863, he would free all the slaves in those states still fighting against the union. The Border States Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia who were loyal ato the Union were not affected and were allwoed slavery. In addition any seceding state that rejoined the Union or simply returned its congressmen to Washington before it took effect,would would have been in the same position as the border states and could have kept slavery. Intended as a war and propaganda measure, the Emancipation Proclamation had far more symbolic than real impact, because the federal government had no actual reasons to enforce it at the time. But the document clearly and irrevocably notified the South and the world that the war was being fought not just to preserve the Union, but to put an end to the peculiar institution. Eventually, as Union armies occupied more and more southern territory, the Proclamation turned into reality, as thousands of slaves were set free by the advancing union troops.

Slaves were part of the "engine of war" for the Confederacy. They produced and prepared food; sewed uniforms; repaired railways; worked on farms and in factories, shipping yards, and mines; built fortifications; and served as hospital workers and common laborers. To encourage discontent among slaves in the Confederacy, a million copies