McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. –
The Emancipation Proclamation was decreed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation was one of the most unprecedented acts in United States history. It was the initial Civil Rights act in the United States that changed African- Americans' status from enslaved to free. President Lincoln is credited for emancipating around four million African-Americans who were in the country at that time.
President Lincoln was against slavery but valued the unity over division within the states. His ethical and religious beliefs led him to continue on with his last move to cripple the south's economic system by giving freedom to slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation was controversial, compassionate, as well as a strategic move by President Lincoln to weaken the south's ability to fight and regain unity among the divide states.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a controversial document. In the south, the arguments were common and well known; Southerners did not want to interrupt their economic stability, have the federal government meddling in state legislature and they argued the slaves did not know how to function without an overseer. Northerners, as well as southerners, had issues with freeing the slaves. The majority in the north thought slavery was wrong, but the underlying question was if they could assimilate into the United Sates after being under bondage and great depression for 250 years. It came around the time where many thought the freedom of slaves would destroy our country.
The practice of slavery did not agree with the thoughts of our fore fathers. For Thomas Jefferson said, "... that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness."
President Lincoln understood that slavery contradicted the Constitution. Slavery dehumanized people and stripped them of the rights our forefathers died to protect in the American Revolution. Many questioned in their hearts how the slaves would overcome. Another common view was how people could operate in a system of freedom when they were born into the system of slavery. Their minds were conditioned to rely on the plantation owners for supplies and shelter. People wondered if the slaves were ready for the responsibility of free men. The correct response was yes because our nation is founded on the principles that give everyone equal opportunity to succeed, not the inherent right to success.
The Emancipation Proclamation was the necessary legislation that gave slaves their opportunity to free life in the United States. It was the culminating act of many arguments and papers by abolitionists. It was an endearing proclamation by President Lincoln to free slaves. The oppression caused by servitude was lifted. They knew not what the future would bring, but hope was better than their circumstances. Slaves in the north were overjoyed. The slaves in the south were slowly notified of the great news. People say President Lincoln had many reasons for why the slaves were freed; some were political as well as ethical and spiritual. All arguments resulted in freedom to abused and misused people in the land of freedom, which we call America.
One of the more hidden and less talked about reasons (for the president to ban slavery) was the south's inability to produce income to fight the Civil War. The freedom of the slaves was the last initiative or stand that would put a stop to the rebellion in the south and reunite the south with the north. President Lincoln was faced with the tough decision of freeing the slaves. He was personally against slavery and understood the union was greater than anything else. President Lincoln made the right decision for the betterment of all the people. His move to free slaves had a bi-fold effect. It disrupted the economy of the south as well as freed oppressed people.