Who won the Emancipation Proclamation?

Answer 1

Yes it did. Freedmen were able to join the Union Army and make it much stronger; which definitely helped the North win the war.

In July, 1862, the war was going badly for the North, so Congress passed a law freeing all Confederate slaves who came into the North's lines. This helped the North by allowing the former slaves to join the Union Army and help the North win the Civil War. Around that time, Lincoln decided to try to free the South's slaves because the North was losing the Civil War, but he waited until the Union had a military victory. The reason Lincoln did this was because Secretary of State William H. Seward feared that with recent Northern military defeats the proclamation might be looked on as a "last shriek on the retreat." People might think it was a last minute desperate measure because the Union was losing. Because of this, Lincoln put the proclamation aside to await a victory. On September 17, 1862 the wait was over. In the Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, Union General George B. McClellan stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee's attack on the North. Even though Antietam wasn't prearranged, it was good enough for Lincoln's purpose.

The Abolitionists were right that the Emancipation Proclamation would help the Union win the war. It helped the Union by reinforcing the North's war effort and weakening the South's. The South was hurt by the Emancipation Proclamation because it discouraged France and Britain from entering the war. Those two countries depended on the Confederacy, or South, to supply them with cotton, so the South hoped that they would fight on their side. Most French and British citizens were against slavery, though, so when the proclamation made the war a fight against slavery, France and Britain gave their support to the Union.
The idea that Great Britain and France gave their support to the Union is not true. The British, in particular, saw the Confederacy as a defacto state. It had a government, an army and a constitution.

France, during the war years was taking over Mexico. The British were constructing warships for the South and selling them weapons. In fact, after the war, the US successfully in an international court sued Great Britain for war reparations because of the military support it gave to the South.

Both European powers transacted their international business on the basis of self interest. Most British citizens did not even have the right to vote, let alone influence British foreign policy. France also loaned funds to the South.

Brilliant political move by Abraham Lincoln, however it was a war measure. London newspapers made a point in covering the Emancipation as only applying to loyal Northern states including slave states.

Answer 2

The preliminary Emancipation in the Fall of 1862, and the second one of January 1, 1863, was a war measure by US President Lincoln. While history has been kind to Lincoln regarding this, some clarification is required.1. His sharpest cabinet critics feared it would cause unrest in the Union;s slave holding border states, which the Proclamation had no effect over. Still, many Northerners, including Lincoln's cabinet, were correct in believing that under no circumstances, should the delicate balance with the border states be risked;

2. As a war measure, its effect was nominal. Anytime, Union troops would take control of Southern territory, the slaves there were set free. Therefore, as a war measure in itself it did not change very much;

3. With that said, however, the Proclamation pleased the radical element in the Republican Party. Among the radicals were those who were hardened abolitionists who actually believed that before and during the war, slaves should be freed, both North and South. Here at least Lincoln achieved support for his efforts against Southern slaves;

4. Enlistment of Freed Blacks led logically to Lincoln issuing orders allowing these former slaves to become part of the Union's military efforts. In actuality, White Union officers and enlisted men were no keen on the idea of fighting with Blacks, and for the most part Blacks were separate units under the command of white officers. Lincoln made a good deal of effort to encourage acceptance of Black soldiers;

5. Lincolns statements and desires concerning the results however, proved to be erroneous. And, the following statements by Lincoln should be seen in the positive fashion for which he believed.

Lincoln stated that " the bare sight of 50,000 armed and drilled Black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi River would end the South's rebellion at once."

The words seem to be "out of touch" with any sort of basis in reality, but did display his optimistic ideals;

6. As recruiting of Blacks went forward into the Spring and Summer of 1863, Lincoln restated his ideas in the Summer of 1863, with the understanding that "100,000 Black troops will soon end the contest". Blacks as soldiers, however, did not disappoint Lincoln's generals. They were good fighters, any doubts by early opponents proved to be incorrect;

7. Their fighting skills aside, the Black recruits served a special function. They were excellent in protecting the supply and communication lines of Union forces marching into Southern territory; and

8. The Union's draft which was passed into law in March of 1863, had been contemplated long before its passage. The problem that the Union and President Lincoln failed to address was the failure to gather more recruits from the Northern states as were available. When it is considered that two million Northern soldiers actually wore Union uniforms in the four years of war, there either was not enough in terms of recruitment, or that within the well over two million men, they were not trained properly. One estimate has the North enlisting 2.8 million men.

To be considered is that when the war began, the Southern population was 11,000.000 and 3.5 million were slaves. In contrast, the North's population in 1860 was 23,000,000.