Emancipation Proclamation ??!!

Did The Emancipation Proclamation really free slaves in America? It is a good question I believe, but if you were to ask this question many of Blacks in America they will say it's a pointless question. Lincoln freed the slaves right? Or was he just trying to buy himself some time? Here is an excerpt from the "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass." It's explains Douglass' sentiments after hearing the famous "Proclamation":

"There was evidently no disposition on the part of this meeting to
criticize the proclamation; nor was there with any one at first. At
the moment we saw only it's Anti-Slavery side. But further and
more critical examination showed it to be extremely defective. It
was not a proclamation of "liberty throughout all the land unto
all the inhabitants thereof," such as we had hoped it be; but was
one marked by discriminations and reservations. Its operation
was confined within certain geographical and military lines. It
abolished slavery where it did not exist, and left it intact where it
did exist."

There it is right there. Abraham Lincoln couldn't have just waved a magic wand or wrote a magic document and "Alakazaam!!" we're free. We're talking about America...in 1863! President Lincoln had three sides that we pleading there cause to them. First the free and enslaved Africans; we know what they wanted...FREEDOM. Next there were the Northern whites who had been living outside of the confines of slavery because the North had begun to industrialize itself. However these Northern whites were venturing out into the new territories. The conflict arose when Southern whites ventured into the new territories, because they were bringing their slaves with them. Northen whites didn't want to be thrust back into the middle of this lifestyle, and Southern whites thought if they could bring their cattle then why not their slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation, as Douglass stated only eradicated the expansion of slavery into new territories (in South Carolina it was still okay). This appeased Northern whites, a clan to which President Lincoln belonged being born and raised in Illinois. The Emancipation Proclamation was also signed and delivered on January 1, 1863; however slavery was not abolished until the end of 1865. It was not the document itself that saved us...it is my belief that WE saved OURSELVES once the Union Army started to enlist slaves to fight against the Confederacy. More research needs to be done on the subject, but I think Douglass accounts put a magnifying glass on the sentiments and objectives of Pres. Lincoln and the U.S. Government and their willingness to end the subordination of Blacks in America.