tates had decided to stay in the Union when other southern states seceded in 1861. The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the United States. In the first place, it did not apply to the border states where slavery was a problem, for reason that it did not secede. Secondly, much of the territory to which the proclamation was applied to was beyond the power of the Federal government, and therefore, it could not be enforced thoroughly. Finally, even Lincoln doubted it would be held legal in peacetime. While the war lasted, most of the slaves remained loyal to their masters. But it satisfied the North who demanded antislavery mandates. The proclamation did not reflect Lincolns desire solution for the slavery problem. He continued to favor gradual emancipation, to be undertaken voluntarily by the states, with federal compensation to slaveholders, a plan he considered eminently just in view of the common responsibility of North and South for the existence of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was chiefly a declaration of policy that would enhance the Union causes in the eyes of Europeans.We have discovered that the Emancipation Proclamation was not sought after. The Presidents purpose of the proclamation was to maintain the Union. The areas where slavery could be abolished are the regions where the proclamation was omitted. The areas that were impossible for the proclamation to be effective is where it was issued. It was used as a way to get the cause of the Union in the eyes of the Europeans. ...
