Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat
If he was only interested in getting re-elected, he would not have pushed through the EP. No one in the North wanted to die just to free slaves.
He was a very smart politician in that he knew he could only issue the EP after a victory so it would not look like a desparate move. He had the EP in his pocket for months, but only went ahead after Antietam.
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But the foreign powers did. Lincoln knew that emancipation would keep England from intervening and pushing for a truce, which he could absolutely not have. That would have guaranteed that he would not be reelected. Foreign powers wouldn't dare interfere with a war with the declared end of abolition, and so he waited until he had the victories make it a credible gesture that would strengthen his political position, both abroad and domestically.