Download What did the Emancipation Proclamation accomplish?

Name: ________________________________
What did the Emancipation Proclamation accomplish?
In the summer of 1862 President Abraham Lincoln
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Believed the proclamation would boost morale in the North by changing the motivation for
fighting the war from preserving the Union to ending slavery
Received pressure from Northern abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd
Garrison
Wanted African-American volunteers for the Union Army
Hoped to stop the Confederacy from using slave labor to aid in their war effort
Thought Great Britain, France, and Spain would support the North because they were strong antislavery countries
Needed to stop Great Britain's growing support for the Confederacy
Why did he wait until January 1, 1863?
Lincoln first suggested freeing the slaves in the summer of 1862. His secretary of state advised him to
wait for a victory so that the nation would be in the right mood. That victory came in September, 1862
when Robert E. Lee withdrew the Confederate Army from Maryland following the bloody Battle of
Antietam. Lincoln immediately announced the Emancipation Proclamation. The plan went into effect on
January 1, 1863.
Directions: Read the Sites 1 and 2 and then review the text of the Emancipation Proclamation at Site 3.
Using this information, on the back of this paper write a 2-3 paragraph newspaper article announcing the
proclamation. You can choose to write the article for the New York Times (the New York City paper) or
the Richmond Enquirer (the paper of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy). Keep in mind
the country is in the middle of the Civil War. Think about how reaction in the North and South would
differ and include those viewpoints in your article.
Part 2
Using the information from the web sites and your completed newspaper article, respond to the following
questions:
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Was Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation a moral or a political decision?
Explain.
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What did the Emancipation Proclamation not do?
Now answer the Focus Question:
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What did the Emancipation Proclamation accomplish?