Emancipation Proclamation — executive order issued by president Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 that freed southern slaves
Redefined the Civil War as a struggle to end slavery and provided the legal basis for freeing over 3.5 million enslaved people in Confederate states.
Key Facts
- Preliminary Proclamation Date
- September 22, 1862
- Final Proclamation Date
- January 1, 1863
- Enslaved people affected
- More than 3.5 million people
- Immediately emancipated
- 25,000 to 75,000 people
- Confederate states listed
- 10 of 11 seceded states
- Official designation
- Proclamation 95
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the American Civil War, the Confederate states had seceded from the Union largely to preserve the institution of slavery. Lincoln, acting in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief, determined that emancipation was both a military necessity to suppress the rebellion and a moral imperative, issuing a preliminary proclamation on September 22, 1862 to give rebellious states a warning before the final order took effect.
On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Final Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, declaring all enslaved persons in the ten Confederate states still in rebellion to be free. The order also authorized formerly enslaved men to be received into the armed service of the United States, transforming the legal and military character of the Civil War.
The Proclamation energized the abolitionist movement, undermined European support for the Confederacy, and encouraged enslaved people to flee toward Union lines. It shifted the war's stated purpose from preserving the Union to ending slavery, and provided the legal framework under which over 3.5 million enslaved people were liberated as Union forces advanced. It laid the groundwork for the Thirteenth Amendment, which permanently abolished slavery throughout the United States.
Political Outcome
Slavery declared legally abolished in all Confederate states still in rebellion; over 3.5 million enslaved people designated free as Union forces advanced
Slavery legally protected in Confederate and some border states; war framed as a struggle to preserve the Union
Emancipation established as a war aim; enslaved people in rebel states legally free, with path opened to full abolition via constitutional amendment