Question

Which was a result of the Emancipation Proclamation?

Southern troops were freed from their military commitments so they could return home.

The goal of the war changed from freeing slaves to eliminating slavery in all new states and territories.

The goal of the war changed from saving the Union to saving the Union and eliminating slavery.

The Emancipation Proclamation secured voting rights for black property holders in both the North and South.

Answer 1

The second one

Answer 2

None of these is correct, but you are probably expected to pick the third.

The primary purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation was to threaten the South. Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation in September of 1862, saying he would free slaves in rebellious states in January of 1863 *if* the states did not give up their rebellion and return to the Union. When the Southern states did not stand down, Lincoln went ahead with the full Proclamation. That wasn't just a question of following through on his threat, but also of stirring up trouble in the South, since now slaves would have a strong interest in helping the Union Army reach them, and of easing some administrative headaches for General Grant, then operating in the Southern Mississippi Valley, who had tens of thousands of slaves in his command that posed a problem. Lincolns Proclamation allowed Grant to enroll them in the Union Army and its auxiliaries, where they generally served with honor.

The purpose of the war was always to preserve the Union. It's true that preserving the Union after 1863 necessarily meant forcing the South to give up slavery, but as Lincoln's preliminary proclamation makes clear, if the South had come back to the Union before 1863, it is likely the North would not have insisted on abolishing slavery throughout the Union.