Title: 
Headings: 10 Facts: The Emancipation Proclamation
10 Facts: The Emancipation Proclamation
Learn the history and politics surrounding this document
Fact #1: Lincoln actually issued the Emancipation Proclamation twice.
Fact #2: The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the states in rebellion.
Fact #3: Lincoln’s advisors did not initially support the Emancipation Proclamation.
Fact #4: The Battle of Antietam (also known as Sharpsburg) provided the necessary Union victory to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Fact #5: The Emancipation Proclamation was a firm demonstration of the President’s executive war powers.
Fact #6: The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the war.
Fact #7: The Emancipation Proclamation helped prevent the involvement of foreign nations in the Civil War.
Fact #8: The Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for African-Americans to fight for their freedom.
Fact #9: The Emancipation Proclamation led the way to total abolition of slavery in the United States.
Fact #10: Lincoln considered the Emancipation Proclamation the crowning achievement of his presidency.

Content: Up until September 1862, the main focus of the war had been to preserve the Union. With the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation freedom for slaves now became a legitimate war aim. Fact #7: The Emancipation Proclamation helped prevent the involvement of foreign nations in the Civil War. Britain and France had considered supporting the Confederacy in order to expand their influence in the Western Hemisphere. However, many Europeans were against slavery. Although some in the United Kingdom saw the Emancipation Proclamation as overly limited and reckless, Lincoln's directive reinforced the shift of the international political mood against intervention while the Union victory at Antietam further disturbed those who didn't want to intervene on the side of a lost cause. Fact #8: The Emancipation Proclamation paved the way for African-Americans to fight for their freedom. Lincoln declared in the Proclamation that African-Americans of “suitable condition, would be received into the armed service of the United States.”