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Lincoln also felt that the freed slaves would be put back in chains at war's end, as the Proclamation itself was not constitutional.  But Lincoln was prepared for something else: he drafted the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which stated slavery was illegal except for crimes committed.  He also urged the Republican Party to add the proposed amendment as a plank to the 1864 presidential campaign, stating slavery was the cause of the war, and that the Proclamation had aimed “a death blow at this gigantic evil;” only by a constitutional amendment could slavery be rendered extinct.  After the election, Lincoln did not wait for the new Congress.  He got the two-thirds needed for ratification before the year was over, and rejoiced when his state of Illinois led the way.
 
Lincoln also felt that the freed slaves would be put back in chains at war's end, as the Proclamation itself was not constitutional.  But Lincoln was prepared for something else: he drafted the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which stated slavery was illegal except for crimes committed.  He also urged the Republican Party to add the proposed amendment as a plank to the 1864 presidential campaign, stating slavery was the cause of the war, and that the Proclamation had aimed “a death blow at this gigantic evil;” only by a constitutional amendment could slavery be rendered extinct.  After the election, Lincoln did not wait for the new Congress.  He got the two-thirds needed for ratification before the year was over, and rejoiced when his state of Illinois led the way.
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''"In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."'' Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.
    
==Religion==
 
==Religion==
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