Emancipation Proclamation

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The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States president Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States". The Emancipation Proclamation played a significant part in the end of slavery in the United States. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (Proclamation 93). Its third paragraph begins: That on the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves...

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