The Emancipation Proclamation On September 22,1862 President Abraham Lincoln first issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This document stated that slaves would be free with some exceptions. Earlier at a July 22, 1862, cabinet meeting, the president announced that he had decided to declare the emancipation of Southern slaves. The enlistment of 29,000 blacks in the Union army of the civil war forced Lincoln to make that important decision. Then on New Year's Day, January 1,1863, he declared that slaves held …showed first 75 words of 429 total…

…showed last 75 words of 429 total…virtually unenforceable in the South. So even if this new declaration is not helping much, it is now Union goal. Most people in the North believe that this is the means of victory. Lincoln has broadly interpreted the constitutional war powers of the President. But that does not matter right now because this is a step towards the abolishment of slavery for an estimated remaining 4 million suffering slaves in the U.S. ~By Matt Cardillo