Abraham Lincoln reads the Emancipation Proclamation in front of his cabinet. From an engraving by Alexander Hay Ritchie after a painting by Francis Carpenter.Bettmann Archive
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, was an important part of the end of slavery in the United States and a turning point during the American Civil War.
The Civil War began with a debate over whether to allow or prevent the expansion of slavery into the western territories, which would lead to the creation of more slave states. Abraham Lincoln opposed the expansion of slavery and after he was elected president in 1860, seven southern slave states responded by seceding from the United States and forming the Confederacy, which later led to a war with battles across the country.
The path to emancipation
In December 1861, Lincoln advocated legislation that would regulate the status of smuggled slaves and slaves in loyal states, possibly by purchasing their freedom with federal money. On March 13, 1862, Congress passed a law prohibiting the return of slaves to their owners. On April 16, 1862, slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia and owners were compensated.
On June 19, 1862, Congress outlawed slavery in all current and future U.S. territories, and Lincoln signed the law. Later, the Confiscation Act of 1861 freed slaves employed “against the government and law of the United States,” meaning that any slave living in one of the Confederate states was freed. A later version would read: “All slaves of any person who shall hereafter rebel against the Government of the United States, or render any aid or comfort thereto, shall flee from such persons, and take refuge within the limits of the Army;” and all slaves captured or abandoned by such persons who come under the control of the Government of the United States; and all of that person’s slaves were found [or] If found in any place occupied by rebel forces and subsequently occupied by the armed forces of the United States, they shall be deemed prisoners of war and shall be forever freed from their bondage and shall not be held as slaves again.”
Although Congress did not have the authority to free the slaves in the Confederacy, Lincoln argued that he could do so if he deemed it an appropriate military measure.
By the summer of 1862, Lincoln had drafted the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which he issued on September 22, 1862. In it, Lincoln declared that on January 1, 1863, he would free the slaves in states still in rebellion. The preliminary proclamation cited both confiscation laws as sources of his authority to issue the proclamation.
“Freedom for all, both black and white,” honoring Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves.GraphicaArtis (Getty Images)
The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
In July 1862, Lincoln discussed the proclamation with his cabinet. I wrote the preliminary proclamation. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton supported the proclamation and advised the president to issue it after a major Union victory. In September 1862, the Battle of Antietam resulted in a Union victory, which Lincoln used to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
On September 22, 1862, Lincoln called his cabinet into meeting and issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. According to Civil War historian James M. McPherson, Lincoln told Cabinet members, “I made a solemn vow before God that if General Lee were driven out of Pennsylvania, I would crown the result with a declaration of freedom to the slaves.”
The final proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, and affected South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina.
The Emancipation Proclamation declared the freedom of over 3.5 million enslaved people in the United States. Although approximately 25,000 to 75,000 people were immediately emancipated in regions of the Confederate States where the U.S. Army was present, enforcement was delayed in some areas. Texas, the furthest state from the Confederacy with 250,000 slaves, learned of the proclamation after it was issued, but the Union Army had not yet reached the state to enforce it.
Full implementation of the proclamation occurred after the surrender of Confederate forces in 1865. On June 19, Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the proclamation with General Order No. 3 and all remaining slaves to liberate in the state. While the event is celebrated as the end of slavery (today, black Americans celebrate Juneteenth on June 19th), it is important to note that emancipation in the Union border states of Delaware and Kentucky did not occur until December 18, 1865, with the ratification of the Slavery Act Thirteenth Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.
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