Why did the Emancipation Proclamation leave so many people as slaves?

Question

Lincoln said that the slaves in these locations were now free:

"Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued."

http://www.nps.gov/ncro/anti/emancipation.html

I just discovered this today, and I am really curious. Why did he make so many exceptions that allowed slavery to continue?

The strangest place of all is West Virginia, which was a Northern State.

Answer 1

Remember that the Federal Government had less power in those days and there weren't 50 states yet. You might find some of the reasons in the state and local laws for that period.

Answer 2

Well, the Emancipation Proclamation actually did not free any slaves at all. It was not a legal document, but it was a brilliant piece of work by Lincoln. He managed to appease the anti-slavery population by seemingly "freeing" slaves while in reality Lincoln did not have the authority to free slaves in states that were not part of the Union after the secession. What finally freed the slaves legally was the 13th amendment to the Constitution.

Answer 3

I don't know why he allowed slavery in some places, but I just kind of have a comment about the W. Virginia part...I just read the Narrative of Fredderick Douglass and he was a slave in Boston, Massachusetts, which is way up north...

Answer 4

west virginia is not part of the northern states, rather southern confederate states.

Lincoln himself owned slaves....his prolamations maybe seem hypocritical considering he himself owned slaves, but Lincoln was a capitalist. He felt treating the blacks like subhuman was bad, he allowed them some freedom, such as relocating and right to vote, right to ownership of properties and so on.

I just wished the blacks weren't forced to come here like the way they were

Answer 5

The Emancipation Proclamation was designed mostly to further weaken the rebel Confederate States of America. That's why it was targeted mainly at states in the South and not in States in the Union. He wanted to maintain Union support at least until the insurgency was defeated. The real emancipation for all slaves was to come after the Civil War in the form of the 14th Amendment.