The Effects Of The Emancipation Proclamation

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Following the outbreak of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln believed that the Union could not survive while it remained profoundly divided on the subject of slavery. Revered by numerous historians, Lincoln’s actions throughout the Civil War created social and political change that would bring the United States of America into a new era of cultural reform. In attempting to abolish slavery and weaken the Confederacy, the Emancipation Proclamation redefined the objectives of the Civil War. While successful in gradually abolishing the institution of slavery in the southern states, the Emancipation Proclamation failed to extinguish racial discrimination against the newly freed African Americans. Indeed, although progress had been made, the use of intimidation and segregation by white southerners continued to strip black citizens of their fundamental rights, thus deepening racial tensions, not only in the southern states, but across the entire fractured nation. In the course of battling southern secession, the federal government, led by Lincoln, proposed a policy that would …show more content…

Lincoln led our nation through one of the most important times in our country’s history. The Civil War generated political and social changes that altered the course of the United States of America. While successful in gradually abolishing the institution of slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation failed to eliminate racial discrimination against the African Americans. Despite gaining their independence, the racial habits and policies of the southern states continued to impact the freed slaves’ quality of life. Through the use of intimidation and segregation, even after the abolition of slavery, white southerners stripped black citizens of many of the rights that were granted to them in the American Constitution as well as the Fourteenth

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