Paul Cooney
AP American
Mr. Decarlo
20 November 2006

LAD 16- Emancipation Proclamation

During the Civil War, Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation that stated all slaves in the rebellious states of the Confederacy were to be freed. It was not an actual law passed by congress, rather a Presidential order empowered by his position as commander and chief of the army and the navy. Only slaves that were on Union-controlled land were free, while all others still in the South remained captive to their owners. During peacetime Lincoln would not have had the power to free the slaves, but the war game him the power. The Proclamation also allowed free blacks to join the United States military, and gave the north an added advantage over the south towards the end of the war.