The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 supported the belief that all slaves who escaped, once captured were to be returned to their owners. This led to the War Governors’ Conference on September 25, 1862 which included the meeting of thirteen Union governors who conversed between many different aspects of the war. The importance of this meeting routed from the war and the downfall that Abraham Lincoln was witnessing in the United States. As they discussed many reasons to abolish slavery, they believed that a substantial win would help the announcement of the proclamation.
Slavery had a significant impact on society in a moral and economical aspect. The money had “strengthened the American economy in the north and south.” Economically slaves who worked on plantations changed the agricultural society. The shift went from the agricultural society to a more advanced industrial society. This then caused the downfall of the Confederate States of America. “Slaves were known as contraband, or illegal imports to represent the captured slaves, and with the impact of Lincoln, he was able to present the theory of emancipation that took away the view of slaves as property and allowed the states to control the territory within their borders.” When the proclamation was first issued, it did not free all slaves. Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri had not suceeded from the union. The collapse of the Confederate States of