XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: black-turds@naacp.org   
      
   On Jan. 1, 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared free   
   all slaves residing in territory in rebellion against the   
   federal government. This Emancipation Proclamation actually   
   freed few people. It did not apply to slaves in border states   
   fighting on the Union side; nor did it affect slaves in southern   
   areas already under Union control. Naturally, the states in   
   rebellion did not act on Lincoln's order. But the proclamation   
   did show Americans-- and the world--that the civil war was now   
   being fought to end slavery.   
      
    Lincoln had been reluctant to come to this position. A believer   
   in white supremacy, he initially viewed the war only in terms of   
   preserving the Union. As pressure for abolition mounted in   
   Congress and the country, however, Lincoln became more   
   sympathetic to the idea. On Sept. 22, 1862, he issued a   
   preliminary proclamation announcing that emancipation would   
   become effective on Jan. 1, 1863, in those states still in   
   rebellion. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end   
   slavery in America--this was achieved by the passage of the 13TH   
   Amendment to the Constitution on Dec. 18, 1865--it did make that   
   accomplishment a basic war goal and a virtual certainty.   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)