Why did Abraham Lincoln decide to write the Emancipation Proclamation until the

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Egophile

New member
He didn't wait until the very end, but he did wait until the Union had just won a battle (can't remember which), and wanted to present it on a victory platform. He didn't write it earlier because he didn't want the border slave states that were on the verge of secession to feel that slavery was in danger. That's why he didn't want the war to be about slavery, but preserving the union.

Also, it may have had something to do with countries like Great Britain who were possibly going to ally themselves with the South. Lincoln recognized this, and saw that if he made the war about slavery, since the British had already made slavery illegal, England would not side with the confederates and fight for slavery.
 
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PJ

Member
actually lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation a long time before he delivered it. although it was not at the end of the war, it did come only after a significant union victory on the battlefield.

this was done for effect. it seems many of lincoln's advisers felt that delivering it at a time when things weren't looking so well on the field of batter it might sound empty, or even desperate...so, the timing was, as usual, based on the political realities of the time.

much love and hope. pj
 
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BobMarley

New member
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation shortly after the Battle of Antietam, which is the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War. That battle was in September of 1862, and the Civil War did not officially end until April of 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves, but it did make the rest of the war have the sole purpose of abolishing slavery.
 
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TelemachusR

New member
He didn't. If I'm not mistaken he issued the Proclamation sometime in 1863. The outcome of the war was far from certain, and it only applied to those states that had truly seceded south of the Mason Dixon...border states like Tenn. and W. Virginia and Kentucky were exempt.
 
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