"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery" Abraham Lincoln 1862, before he issued the emancipation proclamation to the world. The military diplomatic and political maneuvers during the first three years of the war took place by sometimes acknowledging the slavery issue. Politicians tiptoed around the issue even though slavery was the fundamental cause of sectionalism that led to war. The north suffered more disunity over the war than the south. The south fought for independence, to keep their way of life. Northerners fought to preserve the union, but what type of union were they trying to preserve, free or slave. To fight against slaveholders, with out fighting against slavery, is but a half-hearted business?Frederick Douglas 1861.
There were many events leading up to the emancipation proclamation. There was John C. Fremont who freed slaves issuing his own illegal proclamation. There were seven different bills in the north dealing with emancipation and compfiscation of rebel property and how to deal with it. Important as these acts were they nearly tip toe around the edges of slavery. A confiscation act authorized the seizure of the property of person in rebellion against the United States; they mostly state that all of their slaves who come within Union lines shall be forever free. From the beginning of the war leading up to the proclamation if seemed that Lincoln intended to do nothing against slavery. Although he had many meetings with black leaders and his cabinet on the subject of what to do with the slaves. But by 1862 Lincoln was convinced that the war must end slavery. But he wanted to form a plan that gradually freed slaves. He talked his plan over with the Border State politicians but they would not hear of it. So, Lincoln decided that after a victorious battle he would issue an emancipation proclamation to the world.