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Emancipation Proclamation and Free Slaves

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The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln had issued a preliminary proclamation that after 90 days if the South didn’t return to the Union he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state (or part of a state) that did not end their rebellion against the Union by January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation was meant to destroy the southern economy (which was mainly based on agriculture). Furthermore it convinced countries like Great Britain and France to stop support for the South because people in those countries deeply despised slavery, and since the Emancipation Proclamation turned the war into a war for slavery (which no country wanted to support). Before the Civil War the South mainly focused on cash crops like tobacco and cotton. This left very few farmers to actually grow food for the southern population. It was also hard for the South to transport their men, weapons, and food because its railroads were small and not interconnected. During the war this would prove to be a major detriment to the South. Conversely the North had approximately 22,000 miles of railroads, more than twice of the 9,500 miles that the South had. This made it easy for the North to transport their military and supplies. The North also had a surplus of factories which produced way more than what the Northern military needed; while the South had very few factories. The federal arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts produced over a million rifles and countless ammunition alone. But one thing the South did have over the North was its exports to Europe. On May 19th of 1828 the Congress passed the Tariff of 1828. The South called it the Tariff of Abominations because the tariff mainly affected the South and was meant to help Northern manufacturers. The goal of the tariff was to protect industries in the North which were being put out of business by countries like Great Britain by imposing taxes on them. After previous tariffs that put a blockade on Europe, Great Britain flooded American markets with cheap superior products which forced many American manufacturers to close. So the tariff forced Southerners to buy finished products from the North at a higher price which many Southerners didn’t like. Since Great Britain couldn’t make as much money from shipping their goods to America they greatly reduced their import

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