By 1862, the Civil War was in full swing, and Lincoln decided to take on another monumental task, emancipation. He understood that it was perilous to get too far ahead of public sentiment and opinion, so he weighed all of these things and decided in July of 1862 that the government should adopt a strong anti-slavery position. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a bit longer than his Gettysburg Address, but it was a statement that changed America, changed our history, and changed our way of life.
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