Having followed this thread, I believe everyone has forgotten something. Cause and effect is subjective. One can interpret events as he/she sees them. I agree that Lincoln didn't "free" anything or anyone. All he did was "say" that people held in bondage in the states in rebellion were freed. Planted a seed, as it were. He just took advantage of something that had been happening even before the war. If the war had not come about, slavery would have died of its own volition within a few years. It IS odd though, how slaves in the states that remained in the Union were not mentioned in The Emancipation Proclamation. I guess you don't mess with registered voters property, huh? I see very little change in politics from then until now