Before the Emancipation Proclamation
- Founding fathers decided to wait on making a decision on slavery
- Slavery was viewed to be too complicated an issue
- The beginning of the 18th century signaled an increase in abolitionists
- People began to shift their views to a more sympathetic version towards the position of the slave
- Battles raged in debates around the country on the rights and wrongs of slavery
- Congress tried to balance both the claims of the abolitionist North and the pro-slavery South
- Slavery was not considered to be a bad thing overall by some
- Slaves formed a large part of the work force
- The tide turned against the South and led to secession
- Abraham Lincoln claimed to be in the war only to preserve the Union
- Emancipation came on January 1st, 1863
The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation