Was Pres. Lincoln really the emancipator?

Question:

Was Pres. Lincoln really the emancipator?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Lincoln was reluctant to issue an Emancipation Proclamation but you would have thought from what one is taught in class these days this was his primary concern. He issued the proclamation to save the Union making impossible for foreign Governments to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. Even though the English supported (indirectly) slavery, they like other countries were officially against the practice. By his actions, Lincoln was showing the US was against slavery but not the Confederacy. If like the leaders of these countries at the time, you took the time to read and study the act you would see it does nothing and in fact, Lincoln thought that the Afro American was not the equal of whites and his plan was to resettle the slaves in either the Amazon or Western Texas.

Most people are not aware that there was a series of action and even proclamations for instance Lincolns correspondence of October 14, 1862 to the military and civilian authorities of occupied Louisiana.

??Major General Butler, Governor Shepley, & and [sic] all having military and naval authority under the United States within the S[t]ate of Louisiana. The bearer of this, Hon. John E. Bouligny, a citizen of Louisiana, goes to the State seeking to have such of the people thereof as desire to avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have peace again upon the old terms under the constitution of the United States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the Congress of the United States particularly, and perhaps a legislature, State officers, and United States Senators friendly to their object. I shall be glad for you and each of you, to aid him and all others acting for this object, as much as possible. In all available ways, give the people a chance to express their wishes at these elections. Follow forms of law as far as convenient, but at all events get the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All see how such action will connect with, and affect the proclamation of September 22nd. Of course, the men elected should be gentlemen of character willing to swear support to the Constitution, as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion of duplicity. (CW 5:462-3, italics added).

NOTE: The italic show that Lincoln rather then issue an Emancipation Proclamation or free the slaves was still willing to allow the Southern States back into the Union. One will find this all the way up to the 1865 visit to Camp Lookout.

At the same time Lincoln was issuing the Emancipation Proclamation he was petitioning his cabinet to negotiate and appropriate funds to force the Blacks else where.

In July 1862, Lincoln read a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet. Secretary of State William Seward suggested that Lincoln wait to issue it until after the Union victory, so that it would not sound like the last desperate act of a losing government. Lincoln agreed, and waited for his generals to win a battle.
The battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day of the war. Robert E. Lee??s Confederate army retreated after the battle, allowing Union general George B. McClellan to claim victory. Five days later, on September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
The preliminary Proclamation announced that slaves in rebel states not under Union control would become free on January 1, 1863. Lincoln thus gave the Southern states one last chance to end the war before losing their slaves, which they did not accept. The Proclamation did not affect slaves in the Union states; Lincoln still needed the allegiance of the border states in order to win the war. It was clear to all, however, that slavery would not long survive anywhere once the Proclamation took effect.
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln signed the final Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1864, Jeff Davis and other Southerner leaders would contemplate outlawing slavery and probably would have if the opportunity had arisen.

God Bless You and The Southern People.