le sigh.
The Border States (States that had slavery but remained with the Union during the war) and three States of which part or all were taken over by the Union during the war, were permitted to continue the practice, and were EXEMPT from the Emancipation Proclamation - itself a bogus law aimed at thumbing the eye of the Confederacy, and was issued DURING the war and not at the outset, and was unenforceable, as was intended.
Lincoln also stated he would do anything to maintain the union and also to win the war, if that meant keeping the institution of slavery going, so be it, it it took eliminating it, then that.
Whoop dee dee, some Founders freed their slaves AFTER death because they no longer needed them.
Bottom line is, they did NOTHING to liberate the slaves while liberating themselves from the British Crown. The only thing I care to read is what they stuck on the Constitution, not what they said to ease their conscience while buying, keeping, beating, raping, and siring slaves. Friggin Thomas Jefferson himself left some descendents that were slaves, and that weren't from Craiglist hookups.