Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Final - Essay Example When studying the position of Abraham Lincoln on slavery, and the reasons and effects of his Emancipation Proclamation, therefore, it is important to take into consideration these control measures and to lay a background to the nature of events occurring at that time. The crux of the matter lies in the American Civil War that single-handedly spearheaded the antislavery movement and resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation. It was a contention between the northern free states and the bordering slave states known as the United States of America or the Union (Wikipedia 2008), and the southern states known as the Confederate States of America, where slavery was well established, hence, also known as the slave states. The southern states were led by Jefferson Davis, and the Union was led by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party (Wikipedia 2008). His one quote can fully illuminate Lincoln’s position regarding slavery before the Civil War, when he said "My paramount object in this struggle, is to save the Union and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it..." (Race, Racism and the Law 1998). Lincoln was a man of law, and upholding the Constitution was paramount to him in all matters of politics. He would not, or rather, could not, take any steps that went beyond the parameters of the Constitution. So when it came to freeing the slaves, he was just as much concerned about the issue as was permitted by the red tapes of law, and which was crucial for the survival of the Union. Abraham Lincoln was always against slavery, and always expressed his views against it on moral grounds (Slavery