The Emancipation Proclamation

Term Paper Title	The Emancipation Proclamation
# of Words	345
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	1.38

The Emancipation Proclamation

     The emancipation proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1,
1863, during the American Civil War, declaring all "slaves within any State, or
designated part of a State... then... in rebellion,... shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free."  The states affected were enumerated in the
proclamation; specifically exempted were slaves in parts of the South then held
by Union armies.  Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation marked a
radical change in his policy.
     After out break of the Civil War, the slavery issue was made acute by
the flight to Union lines of large numbers of slaves who volunteered to fight
for there freedom and that of there fellow slaves.  In these  circumstances, a
strict application of established policy would have required return of fugitive
slaves to their masters.
     Abolitionists had long been urging Lincoln to free all slaves, and
public opinion suported that view.  Lincoln moved slowly and cautiously nonethe
less; on March 13, 1862, the federal government fforbade all Union Army officers
to return fugitive slaves, thus annulling in effect the fugitive slave laws.  On
April 10, on Lincoln'...

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