The Effects Of The Emancipation Proclamation

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln believed that the Union could not survive while it remained profoundly divided on the subject of slavery. Revered by numerous historians, Lincoln’s actions throughout the Civil War created social and political change that would bring the United States of America into a new era of cultural reform. In attempting to abolish slavery and weaken the Confederacy, the Emancipation Proclamation redefined the objectives of the Civil War. While successful in gradually abolishing the institution of slavery in the southern states, the Emancipation Proclamation failed to extinguish racial discrimination against the newly freed African Americans. Indeed, although progress had been made, the use of intimidation and segregation by white southerners continued to strip black citizens of their fundamental rights, thus deepening racial tensions, not only in the southern states, but across the entire fractured nation.

In the course of battling southern secession, the federal government, led by Lincoln, proposed a policy that would

eradicate the current system of slavery in the Confederate states. Prior to this Emancipation Proclamation, the main focus of the Civil War was to preserve and protect the ideals of the Union. However, the freeing of southern slaves became the primary political objective following Lincoln’s proclamation. Because the desire to maintain slavery was believed to be the cause of southern secession, the decision to emancipate “would weaken the rebels by drawing off their laborers, which is of great importance.” According to Alexander Stephens, the Confederate Vice President, southern society, at this time, was entirely dependent on the presence of the African American slaves. Relying on an already weak and unstable economy, the Confederacy could not afford to lose their salient source of labor-- doing so would essentially guarantee a Union victory. Lincoln’s plans for emancipation provoked slaves across the nation to question the authority of their plantation owners, and inspired many to join the Union army in the fight for their own freedom. By the act of emancipation, Lincoln had gained leverage in terms of both economic as well as military advantages. Following his reelection in 1864, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the American Constitution, officially abolishing slavery throughout the country. Stating that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude...shall exist within the United States”, the institution of slavery was legally prohibited, thus granting emancipation for millions of men and women.
The United States of America was founded on the premise that “all men are created equal.” However, in 1776, equality only applied to a select few. Despite freeing a large percentage of the enslaved African Americans, the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation, which only applied to supporters of the rebellion, excluded the Union and border slave states. Once again, equality and granted freedom were limited to a select group, hindering the Union slaves from achieving the same arrangement as their southern peers. After years of abuse and oppression, black men were supposedly now the beneficiaries of the same constitutional rights as their white counterparts, extending the gift of equality to all men regardless of their skin color or economic status. Emancipation for African American slaves provided freedoms that had never before in their lifetime been obtainable. Intent on preventing former slave owners from restricting the slaves' newly found freedom, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, which “defined an American citizen as anyone born in the United States...thereby automatically making African Americans citizens.” For the first time in American history, black men had the ability to vote, hold office, purchase land and receive an education. Most importantly, freedom meant that their labor would be for their own benefit, and not for their master’s. Blacks now had the freedom and the capability to design their own life. However, as the freed slaves seemed to flourish, the southern plantation owners feared for the stability of their economy; one that had relied on the labor of slaves for hundreds of years.
The emancipation of African American slaves threatened the very ideology of the southern states. For years, the slaves were seen as sub-human; placing them at the bottom of the social ladder. However, as the freedmen regained their civil rights, this caste system, which had driven the agrarian southern society for years, began to crumble. Malicious southerners, who were against emancipation, damaged black school buildings and targeted white teachers in an attempt to restore what they believed to be the rightful social order. Even federal organizations, such as the Freedmen’s Bureau, frequently infringed upon the constitutional rights of the freed slaves. White democrats from the Southern states, fearing for the stability of their already fragile economy, rejected the concept of racial equality and promoted the ideals of white supremacy and segregation. Almost all public facilities were divided by race, enforcing the social concept of separate but equal. Southern states, adamant on disenfranchising African Americans, instituted a literacy test- preventing almost all blacks, most of whom were illiterate, from participating in elections. Organized, democratic terrorist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, prohibited black civilians from voting for a Republican candidate; lynching or beating those who defied them. The racial hatred, in the southern states especially, served to counter the principles of the Emancipation Proclamation; in effect negating the conviction of equality for all. Despite the social advancements in American society at this time, no law or amendment could change the deeply rooted racial idiosyncrasies of the southern states.
Following the commencement of southern secession, Abraham Lincoln believed that the Union’s survival was threatened by the issue of slavery.

Lincoln led our nation through one of the most important times in our country’s history. The Civil War generated political and social changes that altered the course of the United States of America. While successful in gradually abolishing the institution of slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation failed to eliminate racial discrimination against the African Americans. Despite gaining their independence, the racial habits and policies of the southern states continued to impact the freed slaves’ quality of life. Through the use of intimidation and segregation, even after the abolition of slavery, white southerners stripped black citizens of many of the rights that were granted to them in the American Constitution as well as the Fourteenth

Amendment.