Emancipation Proclamation Research Paper

Emancipation Proclamation is one of the United States of America's most important documents, which aimed to bring the Civil War closer to an end. The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. In September 1862, Lincoln announced that he intended to declare the order within 100 days and did so on January 1, 1863.[footnoteRef:1] [1: "Lincoln Issues Emancipation Proclamation," Date accessed 11 September 2012, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-issues-emancipation-proclamation]

President Lincoln's intended audience was not only those slaveholders in the Union, whom he assured would not be affected by the executive order, but also slaves and slaveholders in the Confederacy. One of the reasons that the Emancipation Proclamation was written was to free slaves in states that were in rebellion with the Union. Additionally, the Emancipation Proclamation sought to make abolition a goal of the war, create more social unrest in the South, and allowed freedmen to join the Union Army, which further strengthened the Union and former-slaves' resolves.It is difficult to understand the mindset of President Lincoln when he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, especially since he did not know how the Confederacy would react or if they would even comply with the order. Furthermore, the Emancipation Proclamation was an inevitable executive order as it is evident that President Lincoln had been taking steps to free runaway slaves or to free slaves in territories that had been captured by Union forces. These measures included enacting a new article of war that prohibited military officers from returning slaves to their masters and a second confiscation act.[footnoteRef:2] [2: "Emancipation Proclamation," Date accessed 11 September 2012, http://www.history.com/topics/emancipation-proclamation]

The document itself is reliable and comes from a person in the highest position of power and authority in the United States. Furthermore, President Lincoln….....