How come the emancipator only freed the slaves in the south and waited until 1863 to do it, if it wasnt about slavery...the reason was mclellan was making a living getting his ass handed to him by bobby lee despite having a bigger army, more ammo, more supplies etcThe Emancipation Proclamation was a political master stroke designed to keep Britain from recognising the Confederacy (a permanently divided United States would otherwise have worked to England's advantage), it could not be passed with any credibility until after the major check of the Confederates at Antietam/Sharpsburg, even though the long chain of Union victories against Braxton Bragg continued unabated in the Western Theater.
Lincoln was no abolitionist
lincoln wanted all blacks colonized elsewhere
The platform of the Republican Party circa. 1860... (Lincoln was their candidate).
http://cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html7. That the new dogma that the Constitution of its own force carries slavery into any or all of the territories of the United States, is a dangerous political heresy, at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself, with cotemporaneous exposition, and with legislative and judicial precedent, is revolutionary in its tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country.
8. That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom; that as our republican fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our national territory, ordained that no "person should be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law," it becomes our duty, by legislation, whenever such legislation is necessary, to maintain this provision of the constitution against all attempts to violate it; and we deny the authority of congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.
9. That we brand the recent re-opening of the African Slave Trade, under the cover of our national flag, aided by perversions of judicial power, as a crime against humanity, and a burning shame to our country and age, and we call upon congress to take prompt and efficient measures for the total and final suppression of that execrable traffic.If you take the time to read the "causes of secession" linked earlier, you'll find that Lincoln's position on banning the spread of slavery to new states was precisely what pushed them over the edge, the certainty being that the Slave States (their own name for themselves BTW) would become even more of a minority.
Note that while Lincoln's own party was calling the slave trade "execrable traffic" as their official position, in the South they would soon get busy formulating a Constitution built upon chattel slavery as a "cornerstone" of their society (their own words, not mine).
In the Presidential Election of 1864, the Republican Party Platform was more explicit on the topic...
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=296213. Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican Government, justice and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic; and that, while we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed a deathblow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of Slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States.Note that the Democrat Lincoln defeated in '64, George McClellan, was for a negotiated peace and compromise on the slavery issue.
Lincoln's masterwork was the Thirteenth Amendment, banning slavery in the whole United States, in very public progress before, and ratified after that '64 election.
So, if the war started over slavery in the South, and preservation of the Union in the North, Lincoln et al. damn sure made it about slavery too before the shooting was over.
Revisionist history is a great pulpit for which you can pontificate from
Revisionist history? Where?
OTOH, cherry-picking facts as you do because you cannot agree with the sentiments of the actual people on the scene is also revisionism.
General Grant's wife owned slaves, Grant himself fought on Lincoln's side, including for Lincoln's position on slavery. General Lee IIRC had freed his own slaves, but chose to fight for a Constitution that was built upon slavery.
Actual reality is often like that.
Birdwatcher
