Emancipation was supposed to happen gradually, and the important thing to do was to prevent the Southern rebellion from permanently splitting the Union in two. In the second summer of the Civil War, in 1862, thousands of slaves fled the South for Union lines, and the government had no clear policy on how to address the issue. Lincoln saw that emancipation would undermine the Confederacy by providing the Union with new labor. The president sent the draft of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet in July 1862. William Seward, the secretary, advised him to wait until things were better for the Union on the battlefield, otherwise emancipation might seem the last gasp for the nation on the brink of defeat. Lincoln strongly agreed with the advice he had just been given by the Secretary. On September 17, Lincoln had his opportunity after the bloody Battle of Antietam. He issued the first proclamation to his cabinet on September 22, and it was issued the next day. As the enthusiastic crowd gathered outside the White House, Lincoln addressed them: "I can only trust in God, I have made no mistake... It is now up to the country and the world to make a judgment on the matter." (“Abraham Lincoln.” Civil War