The document discusses the emancipation of slaves in the United States during the Civil War. It describes how abolishing slavery was a main objective of the Union war effort and was embraced by most northerners but not the South. It also discusses how Abraham Lincoln strongly opposed slavery and issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to free all slaves in Confederate states, though the South still believed slavery was their right. The Proclamation helped establish the legal and moral end of slavery.