Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation

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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the USA and was born on February 12 1809 and died
on April 15 April 1865. He led the USA through the period of the American Civil War between
1861 and 1861 (Hogan, 266). Lincoln was a career lawyer who was self educated and began his
political career as a Whig party leader and was later elected to the Illinois House of
Representatives.
The most notable achievement of Abraham Lincoln was the Emancipation Proclamation. The
proclamation was done on January 1, 1863 and was directed towards the freedom of all slaves
held within all the states in the USA that were considered as rebellious (Smith, 850). Although
the proclamation only applied to states that seceded from the USA, it led to fundamental progress
in the rights of the composition of the U.S. army and transformed the character of the war
(Barnett, 10). Following the proclamation, black men were accepted into the army and more than
200, 000 of colored soldiers fought for the union.
Although Lincoln personally believed in freedom for all people, He waited until he won the
battle of Antietam so as to get solid support in the nation. He decided to issue the proclamation
only in the Border States in order to appease all parties (Randall, 254). Following the
proclamation, slaves across the nation began efforts to liberate themselves. The proclamation

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was particularly unpopular with the Northerners who saw the liberation of the slaves in terms of
deficient labor on their firms and a consequent competition for jobs.
Lincoln was happy with the proclamation because it was in line with his personal conviction that
slavery was unethical. Lincoln confessed that he was certain that by freeing the slaves, he was
convinced that he was doing the right thing. Following the emancipation, Abraham Lincoln
remains one of the most popular figures in world history.