Title: Why Is the Emancipation Proclamation Important? - BrightHub Education
Headings: Why Is the Emancipation Proclamation Important?
Why Is the Emancipation Proclamation Important?
The Limitations of the Document
How It Changed the War
Other Effects of the Proclamation
References
This post is part of the series: US History Study Guides

Content: How It Changed the War
So then what was the purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation? How did it change the course of the Civil War? In fact, the Proclamation was more of a symbolic statement than anything else. It didn’t change the existence of slavery, but it did change the meaning of the Civil War. Originally, the war was merely a fight in which the North was trying to preserve the Union by reuniting the North and South. The Proclamation changed the war into a war on slavery. After the Proclamation, each Union victory was a victory for those who opposed slavery. It gave slaves who were fighting for their freedom a reason to hope again, and it gave those who supported the Union moral support to depend on. On the heels of the Proclamation, Lincoln proposed that part of the Republican Party’s platform in 1864 should address a possible constitutional amendment that would abolish slavery. This suggestion eventually led to the 13th Amendment, which made slavery illegal.