WHy did Lincoln delay the Emancipation Proclamation?
The answer depends on the STARTING point. 1) Most people just look at the time between July 22, 1862 –when Lincoln showed his Cabinet the Proclamation and told them he was prepared to release it– and Sept 22 when he actually did. In other words, why did he delay issuing it ONCE he had decided he WOULD. In that case, the basic answer is the one you’ve been getting. Sec of State Seward convinced him that issuing it while the Union was doing poorly militarily would look like an act of desperation. So he waited until after some sort of Union victory (viz., the Battle of Antietam, Sept 17). But perhaps you want to know why he did not issue it long before this, that is, why did he only DECIDE to take such a step in the summer of 1862…. In that case: 2) First, Lincoln had to become convinced that this step was Constitutional. He was quite clear that as President he COULD NOT simply declare slaves free because he WANTED them to be. His domestic powers did not cover that. But there was a th
