How Lincoln Almost Lost it All
HISTORY This Week
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Lincoln's Emancipation of the Slaveholding States
Lincoln still says that his number one goal is not to end slavery, but to keep the union together. The eventual proclamation won't free enslaved people in the few union border states where slavery still exists. Lincoln doesn't want to alienate those allies. But if he announces the emancipation of the slaves in the southern seceded states, that this announcement of emancipation may prompt those enslaved african americans to refuse to obey it would weaken the confederate forces.
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