The American Civil War wasn't just a military conflict.

There was also a major political and legal struggle that took place alongside the military

campaigns.

In the last few months of the war, President Abraham Lincoln knew that if the war was truly

to be the end of this conflict, it was necessary to ban slavery once and for all.

And that would require changing the Constitution.

Learn more about the 13th Amendment and the Battle for its ratification on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. If you remember back to my episode on the election of 1864, there was no guarantee

that Lincoln was going to win. The Civil War was extremely unpopular in some circles in the north, and many of the Union's early setbacks were placed squarely at the feet of the President.

However, nothing is more popular than winning, and success on the battlefield led to an overwhelming victory for Lincoln.

In fact, by late 1864, it became obvious to many people that the North was going to win.

General William Tecumseus Sherman marched to the sea devastated southern logistics and supplies.

The Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1st, 1863, ensured that

wherever the Union Army went, slaves would be freed.

And in fact, slaves would go out of their way to flee to Union lines to seek their freedom.

This rendered every slave-owning farm and plantation wherever the Union Army went on

economical as they would lose their entire supply of forced labor.

The Emancipation Proclamation, however, was not a law.

It was a military order issued by Lincoln in his position as

commander-in-chief and it only applied to states that were in rebellion. Many people

don't realize that there were slave states that were still in the Union. In particular, in Delaware, Maryland, and Kentucky, slavery was still legal.

Once the war ended and the southern states were admitted back into the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation

would become null and void, and slavery would once again become legal.

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