ves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Despite his expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied to those states who had seceded from the Union, leaving those faithful slave states untouched Those states who were under Northern control were also exempt, but most importantly the proclamation was promised upon a Union military victory.
             Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, it fundamentally transformed the character of the war. When it was issued, it created unrest among the soldiers of both the North and the South. Some Northerners were supportive of only getting the Confederacy back into the Union, slavery and all, and resented the idea that their president was trying to dictate control over the South. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. More importantly though, was that the proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. The oppressed were not only given a voice, but more effectively, they were given guns, and military training. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for their freedom.
             Lincoln stood by his statement of proclamation, and when he toured Richmond, which had recently fallen to the North, a cavalry of all freedmen escorted him. The Northern soldiers were still opposed to the freedmen as soldiers, but Lincoln's choice of escorts changed the minds of those who were loyal to him. From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty, and now Lincoln had granted them some of it. It was only right for them to go out and fight for the rest of their freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union had become a war for freedom. It added moral force ...