Was the Emancipation Proclamation legal to do at the time?

by J2quared

I'm not asking to speak on the morality of the executive order but on its legality.

itstimetostop2

It was a Presidential proclamation that gave Lincoln the legal right to ban slavery and free the slaves of the rebelling states. The legality and overall effects of the proclamation were only an effect of the war that if the southern states didn't surrender by January 1st 1863 then the slaves would be freed. The proclamation wasn't made to last after the wars end. That's the reason that the 13th amendment was pushed so hard by Lincoln: because he wanted to ensure the main cause of the war was done away with. Lincoln felt that he had no true authority to officially end slavery, that it was up to the states and thus Congress to decide it's fate. The proclamation didn't need it but it did have congressional support and because the Confederacy had no legislatiors that the Union recognized Congress didn't veto it. Also Lincoln knew that because the South was rebelling and he was commander in chief he had the right to end it in the states the Union didn't recognize a government for, thus making it a presidential matter. It was also viewed as a major war effort. It took away the southern work force, and bolstered the Union military by allowing blacks to enlist. It also prevented Britain and France from associating with the south because they had already banned slavery. So Congress nor the supreme Court wanted to label it unconstitutional. All in all the proclamation was legal because the military authority of the president overruled the rebelling states government and the proclamation helped the Union war effort.