# data[].attributes.body
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. He also issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

# data[].attributes.headline
Primary Source: Sixth Debate Between Lincoln and Douglass

# data[].attributes.subject
Primary Source: Sixth Debate Between Lincoln and Douglass

# data[].attributes.body
Abraham Lincoln participated in a number of debates with Stephen Douglass while running for President. Lincoln knew that he could not emancipate all of the slaves solely because he wanted to. Indeed, he believed that the Constitution protected slavery. As Doris Kearns Goodwin explained in Team of Rivals, “While he concurred with most passionate abolitionists that slavery was ‘a moral, a social, and a political wrong’, as President, he could not ignore the constitutional protection of the institution where it already existed.”

# data[].attributes.headline
Map Dividing the Confederacy and the Union

# data[].attributes.subject
Map Dividing the Confederacy and the Union

# data[].attributes.body
This map shows in detail the states that were free, the states that were slave, the states that seceded before the battle at Fort Sumter, the states that seceded after Fort Sumter, the border states, and the line between the Confederacy and the Union.

# data[].attributes.body
Gideon Welles was the Secretary of the Navy and close with President Lincoln. During a carriage ride to a funeral with Welles, Lincoln revealed that he was going to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln knew this was necessary in order to save the Union and that he was now granted the ability by the war powers of the President. As recorded in Gideon Welles’ diary, “[Lincoln had] come to the conclusion that it was a military necessity absolutely essential for the salvation of the Union, that we must free the slaves or ourselves be subdued.”

# data[].attributes.headline
Primary Source: Lincoln's Difficult Decision

# data[].attributes.subject
Primary Source: Lincoln's Difficult Decision

# data[].attributes.body
Lincoln had a difficult decision to make regarding the Emancipation Proclamation. He had to make sure that he did not alienate the South any farther. Lincoln knew Emancipation was necessary. Not wishing to alienate the South any farther is also why Lincoln emancipated only the slaves in rebellious states. Goodwin writes, “He believed that nothing would bring the rebellion to an end faster than a commitment by the border slave states ‘to surrender on fair terms their own interest in slavery rather than see the union dissolved’”.

# data[].attributes.headline
Abraham Lincoln's Decision To Issue The Emancipation Proclamation

# data[].attributes.subject
Abraham Lincoln's Decision To Issue The Emancipation Proclamation

# data[].attributes.body
A proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln which freed slaves in rebellious states and afforded some rights to African Americans.