Usa_Lincoln

Seven score and eight years ago the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. Not since the drafting of this nations constitution had a piece of text been so powerful and yet so flawed. Though Lincoln’s Proclamation may have freed most slaves, it didn’t free all, but the fact that a president would finally acknowledge the slave population as free when no other president would showed that he felt it was time for the nation to live up to its words of all men being equal. Lincoln is indeed worthy of the title “The Great Emancipator” for his actions during the Civil War. Though his actions may have been conflicted by his desire to keep the Union together, when it came time to emancipating the slaves he did when all other presidents failed to. Lincoln battled with his duties as the president of the union and with his own personal beliefs. “I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.” (Horace Greeley’s’ The Prayer of Twenty Millions’ and President Lincolns Response). Lincoln knew that his own views on the injustices of slavery could not affect the way he ran his presidency for he knew that half the country disagreed with him and he’d seen what a biased president could do. He thought only of the union and felt he would do whatever deemed necessary to keep it together despite his feelings. “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” (Horace Greeley’s’ The Prayer of Twenty Millions’ and President Lincolns Response). Anyone who knew Lincoln knew he was a just man who loved his country. “Mr. Lincoln was known to be a man of tender heart, and boundless patience; no man could tell to what length he might go, or might refrain from going in the direction of peace and reconciliation. Hitherto, he had not shown himself a man of heroic measures” (Fredrick Douglas’s Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation). Though Lincoln struggled to keep the peace of the nation together he knew that in order to achieve that, heroic measures would be needed and he would have to do that which no other president could, emancipate the slaves. Lincoln’s reasoning behind the emancipating the slaves was it was the only way he could save the union. He didn’t do it because it was his wish to see slavery abolished, he did it to save the country. He knew that if the north did eventually win the war, the nation would have to continue without slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation stated “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then, be in rebellion against the United States shall be thenceforward, and forever free.” (Emancipation Proclamation Text). The reason he only allowed the slaves of the confederacy free was to guarantee the union slave states stay with the union. Lincoln also knew that once most of the country was free of slavery, it would only be a matter of time until those slave states changed as well. Lincoln’s critics were not only on the side of the confederacy but on the side of the union as well. Many believed that Lincoln had long been overdue in freeing the slaves and that his emancipation was flawed and weak. They stated the proclamation was “confused and almost contradictory” (The commonwealth Criticizes Abraham Lincoln). “In one breath he intimates a desire that the negroes should stay where they are and work for wages; in the next, he invites them to become our soldiers.” Yes it was true that Lincoln’s actions to free them didn’t provide all the answers to slaves who would become free but he was trying to give the slaves options. He knew that the government was in no position to assist slaves so he only advised what was available. To some slaves just the fact that they would be free and the government would back that was enough guarantees to them. To see that some would criticize a man whom did his job and not poison it with his views no matter how just is a sad reality that there was no real correct way to free the slaves and rejoin the union. Though Lincoln’s actions of abolishing slavery may have been somewhat controversial and debatable, the proof of his greatness lies in history books forever. Lincoln was undoubtedly the first president to abolish slavery. He did what 15 presidents before him had failed to do, hold the constitution to account for the slaves of the United States. Lincoln’s last wish was to see the country fight itself and he tried to do whatever he could do to keep it together. He didn’t allow his personal values and opinion to determine how he ran the nation but when he needed to be a leader and grant slaves a voice, he did. One could argue that doing what's right shouldn’t be hard but for Lincoln it wasn’t that simple. By emancipating the slaves he forever cemented his legacy as “the great emancipator” he may not have been the greatest warrior in the fight for emancipation, but he was the sole person with the greatest power of being able to abolish slavery. Seven score and 8 years later his beginning for the end of slavery has long been achieved. Work Cited "Frederick Douglass's Reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation (primary document)." Issues & Controversies in American History. Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. . "Emancipation Proclamation Text (primary document)." Issues & Controversies in American History. Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. . "The Commonwealth criticizes Abraham Lincoln (primary document)." Issues & Controversies in American History. Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. . "Horace Greeley's 'The Prayer of Twenty Millions' and President Lincoln's Response (primary document)." Issues & Controversies in American History. Facts On File News Services, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. .