fire McClellan
President Lincoln waited until the Union won a battle, otherwise it would be considered an empty, meaningless statement. After the Union won the Battle of Antietam / Sharpsburg Maryland; President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Union victories prior to Antietam / Sharpsburg were few and far between.
William Seward recommended that President Lincoln wait until a major Union victory occurred before issuing the proclamation.
While it was drafted in July of 1862, Lincoln was advised against issuing his famous Proclamation until after the Union won a major battle. Antietam was the largest battle in the war up to that point (remaining, to this day, the bloodiest single day of combat on American soil) and while the Union won due to a technicality it was enough to make the Proclamation feel like a term of victory rather than a last-ditch effort.
Lincoln first discussed the idea with his cabinet in July 1862, but the cabinet's advice and Lincoln's own feeling was that he should wait to announce the Proclamation until after a Union battlefield victory, so it would not appear to be a last desperate shriek from a losing nation. Waiting for a victory took a long time, before finally the Union army delivered what looked to be close enough at Antietam, which was really a tactical draw, but the Confederates pulled back afterward. Lincoln announced the preliminary Proclamation five days after the battle, on September 22, 1862. The Proclamation did not take effect until January 1, 1863.
freeing the slaves
Until Antietam everyone thought that the North might actually loose the war. Antietam was just the victory Lincoln had been waiting for allowing him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
According to military historians, the US Civil War Battle of Antietam was a technical draw. Nevertheless, Since the Army of Northern Virginia had to retreat back to Virginia, the people of the day considered it a victory, especially commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General George B. McClellan. It was also important for the preliminary emancipation proclamation. Secretary of State Seward had wisely recommended to President Lincoln to wait until the North had a victory before issuing the proclamation. Lincoln took that advice and waited until the Battle of Antietam was over.Newspapers in England scoffed at the proclamation noting that the four border states which were slave states were not effected.
As promised, Lincoln waited to unveil the proclamation until he could do so on the heels of a successful Union military advance. On September 22, 1862, after a victory at Antietam, he publicly announced a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves free in the rebellious states as of January 1, 1863
President Lincoln waited until the Union won a battle, otherwise it would be considered an empty, meaningless statement. After the Union won the Battle of Antietam / Sharpsburg Maryland; President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Union victories prior to Antietam / Sharpsburg were few and far between.
William Seward recommended that President Lincoln wait until a major Union victory occurred before issuing the proclamation.
William Seward recommended that President Lincoln wait until a major Union victory occurred before issuing the proclamation.
While it was drafted in July of 1862, Lincoln was advised against issuing his famous Proclamation until after the Union won a major battle. Antietam was the largest battle in the war up to that point (remaining, to this day, the bloodiest single day of combat on American soil) and while the Union won due to a technicality it was enough to make the Proclamation feel like a term of victory rather than a last-ditch effort.
Lincoln first discussed the idea with his cabinet in July 1862, but the cabinet's advice and Lincoln's own feeling was that he should wait to announce the Proclamation until after a Union battlefield victory, so it would not appear to be a last desperate shriek from a losing nation. Waiting for a victory took a long time, before finally the Union army delivered what looked to be close enough at Antietam, which was really a tactical draw, but the Confederates pulled back afterward. Lincoln announced the preliminary Proclamation five days after the battle, on September 22, 1862. The Proclamation did not take effect until January 1, 1863.
George B. McClellan became a Union general in 1861. For a time he headed the Army of the Potomac and was briefly the general in chief until March of 1862 when Lincoln relieved him of that post. In August of 1862, Lincoln reinstated him and McClellan helped the Union immensely at the Battle of Antietam. Later that year in November of 1862, Lincoln again removed him from active duty. For all practical purposes he was no longer a member of the Union military when he ran for president against Lincoln in 1864.
freeing the slaves
The Proclamation took effect January 1, 1863. It had been announced in late September 1862, to take effect the next January 1, unless the Rebels quit fighting by then. Lincoln had written it in July, 1862, but decided to wait until a Union battlefield victory to announce it, so it would not seem the last desperate screech of a loser. The Battle of Antietam was close enough to a Union victory, so the Proclamation was announced the week following that battle.
First he waited until the war was going better for the Union, not wanting to appear that the freeing of the Southern slaves was a desperate move. The Union's victory came in September when it repulsed Lee's invasion of the North at the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln issued a preliminary draft of the proclamation on September 22 that warned the Confederate States that if they did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863, he would issue a second proclamation declaring the slaves of those states "forever free". He was basically giving the South time to change their minds.