Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 70

Once the abolition of slavery in the rebel states became a military objective, as Union armies advanced south, more slaves were liberated until all three million of them in Confederate territory were freed.

Lincoln's comment on the signing of the Proclamation was: " I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper.

" For some time, Lincoln continued earlier plans to set up colonies for the newly freed slaves.

He commented favorably on colonization in the Emancipation Proclamation, but all attempts at such a massive undertaking failed.

A few days after Emancipation was announced, 13 Republican governors met at the War Governors ' Conference ; they supported the president's Proclamation, but suggested the removal of General George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army.