Answer:
President Lincoln was initially reluctant to emancipate enslaved African Americans because he was concerned that such a move would alienate the border states that remained loyal to the Union but still allowed slavery. Lincoln also believed that his primary goal was to preserve the Union, and he was worried that emancipation might actually undermine this goal by pushing the border states to secede. Additionally, Lincoln was aware that many Northerners were ambivalent about the issue of slavery and might not support such a radical step.
However, as the Civil War dragged on, Lincoln began to see emancipation as a way to weaken the Confederacy and strengthen the Union cause. By freeing the slaves, Lincoln hoped to deprive the Confederacy of a key source of labor and disrupt the Southern economy. Emancipation would also help to bolster the Union's moral position, both at home and abroad, by demonstrating that the North was fighting for a just cause. Finally, Lincoln was convinced that emancipation was a necessary step toward ensuring that the war would not end in a stalemate or a negotiated settlement that left slavery intact.
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were "forever free." Although the proclamation did not actually free any slaves in the short term, it signaled a dramatic shift in the Union's war aims and helped to rally support for the Union cause. The Emancipation Proclamation also paved the way for the eventual passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery throughout the United States. In the end, Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation was driven by a combination of moral conviction, strategic calculation, and political expediency.