SLAVE EMANCIPATION Stipulation

Freedom for slaves?  Not completely!  The Emancipation Proclamation only granted freedom to slaves in the rebellious Confederate States.  Slave ownership was allowed to continue in Union border states and parts of the Confederacy under Union dominance.  During the Civil War, emancipation was a tactical political decision.  In 1862 President Lincoln wrote an open letter to the editor of the New York Tribune stating; "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery.  If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that."  Because of the political winds of the time, Lincoln settled on  "freeing some and leaving others alone."

x