Prior to the US Civil War, there was a large group of people, mostly in the Northern States that wanted the immediate freedom of slaves in the Southern States as well as in US Territories that did not have Statehood. These people were termed radical abolitionists. The term of radical was used as alternatives to the immediate freedom of slaves in the USA as some people of political influence were Anti Slavery, however, based on the economic and political aspects of an immediate release would cause a major disruption in the economics of the USA, especially in the South. It must be remembered that a major economic problem in the South would affect the entire nation. Thus such people saw the evil in slavery but a radical approach to ending it would not fare the USA well. Another problem of immediately ending slavery was the aspect of compensation to the slave owners. It must be acknowledged that slavery grew from the policies of the entire nation. Slavery was accepted for many many years in the USA. It was tacitly an approved institution. In the world scheme of things, when slaves were released, the governments of these colonies or nations reimbursed owners of slaves when slavery was abolished. Therefore no one in the North or South or in the Territories had any plan or funds to reimburse anyone. Lastly but most importantly, President Lincoln did not believe that the Federal Government had the legal right to declare the end of slavery. In fact after the Civil War began, a US army took over the Government of a territory that had slaves and the Federal General ordered that all slaves be freed. Lincoln reversed this at once as he believed that under the currentConstitution, it would be illegal to end slavery. It must be remembered that Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation affected only the rebellious South. Slaves in Washington DC and Maryland were not affected by the Proclamation.
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