![]() ![]() According to Gideon Wells, the secretary of the navy, the president moved toward blanket emancipation because of the Union’s military defeats and the failure of his plans for compensated emancipation in the Border States. In July 1862, he raised the issue with his cabinet. By freeing the slaves in the rebelling states, which he considered still part of the union, he hoped to undermine their ability to wage war. In spite of these concerns, Lincoln increasingly saw emancipation as a military necessity. Such criticism could easily undermine the effort to preserve the union. ![]() If he moved too fast on emancipation, then Democrats, who favored a more limited war, might begin to criticize his war-related policies. Lincoln also had to devise a policy that would not increase anti-war sentiment in the North. In 1862, the president sent Congress a measure to enact his proposal, but most Republican members opposed compensation, so the bill died. Lincoln believed voluntary acceptance of emancipation would have better long-term results than a forced arrangement. If successful, the plan would serve as a model for reconciling the rebelling states to the Union. ![]() So initially, he supported gradual compensated emancipation in the Border States. In other words, Lincoln had to pursue a policy on emancipation that would not drive the Border States toward secession. By 1864, Congress actively sought to challenge Lincoln for control of the process of reunifying the nation.Īs Abraham Lincoln approached the interrelated questions of emancipation and reconstruction, he needed to balance the Union’s political and military goals. At the same time, the Congressional Republicans did not always approve of the president’s approach. Therefore, Lincoln developed a policy for restoring the rebelling states that took into consideration the transition from a slave labor system to a free labor system. Moreover, it meant when southern states, either by choice or by force, returned to the Union, they had to accept abolition. However, the Emancipation Proclamation, coupled with Union victories, contributed to the disintegration of slavery. They did not develop a long-term policy for dealing with the former slaves. Initially, his administration focused on the military uses of black labor in the Confiscation Acts. Lincoln struggled to find a policy that would meet the demands of the refugees for freedom while also placating the needs of Border State slaveholders. As the war progressed, it became necessary for the government to adopt a more standard policy. At first, the Lincoln administration allowed individual commanders to determine how to handle the runaway slaves. For the remainder of the war, these “contrabands of war,” as Butler called them, continued to flock to Union lines. However, General Benjamin Butler, at Fortress Monroe in Virginia, decided to put the slaves to work for the Union cause once the war broke out. ![]() Initially, Union leaders returned the slaves, pursuant to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Slowly, a small number of slaves made their way to Union forts and camps seeking refuge. \)īefore the Civil War began, rumors spread in many southern communities that Abraham Lincoln planned to free the slaves. ![]()
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