Is it considered odd that Lincoln was called The Great Emancpator?

Answer 1

Though Lincoln was, in fact, the creator of the Emancipation Proclamation, the proclamation itself, effectively, freed exactly zero slaves. You see, the proclamation specifically exempted a few States, and several Counties within other States, from the requirement to free their slaves. These States and Counties were, by no coincidence, back under control of the United States at the time of the proclamation (or like Maryland and Kentucky, had never seceeded but kept slavery legal). So those States and Counties did not have to free their slaves. As for the States and Counties that were not exempted, they were all still in rebellion against the US government, and therefore had no obligation to obey the proclamation. And so those States and Counties did not have to free their slaves either, at least not until they were taken over by the US Army. But it was the conquering of those areas that freed the slaves, not the Emancipation Proclamation. But the proclamation still had no effect on the States and Counties that were originally exempted. Those slaves were not freed until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, December 6, 1865, nearly eight months after Lincoln died.