Question

What was the purpose of issuing the Emancipation Proclamation when the U.S. government was not able to enforce it?

Answer 1

Mostly to state the Union's position.

Explanation:

A proclamation has not validity in law. The Northern Republican Congress recognized this and started work on the 13th Amendment which would of course have the power of law.

Answer 2

The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the Civil War from preserving the union to abolition of slavery.

Explanation:

Many European Nations specifically England and France were willing to support the Confederacy's claim to have the right to rebel against the tyranny of the Federal government and to establish a separate country. The cotton trade made an independent southern nation beneficial to the economies of European Countries like England and France.

These same European Nations had laws against slavery and were opposed to slavery. When the purpose of the Civil War was to abolish slavery it became politically impossible for the European nations to intervene and help the Confederacy.