Many Americans turned against slavery during the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783). These Americans came to believe that slavery had no place in a nation that had been formed to protect natural human rights. Few people in the North owned slaves, and opposition to slavery developed more rapidly there than in the South. Some Southerners, including such leaders as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, spoke out against slavery. Nevertheless, the high profits that resulted from slavery had far greater influence than did any moral arguments. .
James McPherson has some interesting points pointing that Lincoln indeed free the slaves. McPherson insists that Lincoln has an antislavery philosophy, which it was his decision to free the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. At first, Lincoln even considered of keeping slavery in the United States if it meant keeping the Union together. The main reason that Lincoln decided the war was because the Union government refuses to recognize the Confederacy. In addition, Lincoln did not want to interfere with slavery in the south. Even Union generals gave the slaves a chance to be free by serving in the union army; this shows that the union was the ones giving the slaves a chance for freedom. By 1862, Lincoln was convinced that the time had come for a change in policy toward slavery. Besides, many Northerners who had been indifferent to slavery now believed that it had to be stamped out. Lincoln decided to issue a proclamation freeing the slaves whom in turn they could join the union army and maybe turn the tide of the war. On Seward's advice, he withheld the proclamation until a Northern victory created favorable circumstances. The Battle of Antietam served Lincoln's purpose. The Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free a single slave, but it did lead to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. As the abolitionists had predicted, the Emancipation Proclamation strengthened the North's war effort and weakened the South's.
