Which was a key motivation of the Emancipation Proclamation?
a.unrest among northern African Americans
b. slave uprisings in the South
c. a military advantage over the Confederacy
d. the threat of Southern secession
e. the increased likelihood that Abraham Lincoln would be re-elected

Question

Which was a key motivation of the Emancipation Proclamation?
a.unrest among northern African Americans
b. slave uprisings in the South
c. a military advantage over the Confederacy
d. the threat of Southern secession
e. the increased likelihood that Abraham Lincoln would be re-elected

wwhitlock · Answer

B and D are just silly. Throw them out.
A may be true depending on your definition of "Unrest" but that's not Lincoln's motivation.
E doesn't work with the election time line.
The EP didn't set all slaves free. It allowed the border states room to be OK with it. It implied and re-enforced the idea that Lincoln was still President of the southern states and it made clear that abolishing slavery was a goal of the war. It united the nation in the common goal (the west and north anyway)
Lincoln waited to announce the EP until after a Union victory. His generals didn't give him many. That's part of the importance of Antietam. That victory set the stage for the announcement and kept England and France from recognizing the Confederate government.