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: The Southern states used slaves to support their armies on the field and to manage the home front so more men could go off to fight. In a display of his political genius, President Lincoln shrewdly justified the Emancipation Proclamation as a “fit and necessary war measure” in order to cripple the Confederacy’s use of slaves in the war effort. Lincoln also declared that the Proclamation would be enforced under his power as Commander-in-Chief, and that the freedom of the slaves would be maintained by the “Executive government of the United States.” Fact #6: The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the war. 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.