1 January 1863
Executive proclamation / redressBook sources
Emancipation Proclamation
Confederate areas designated as in rebellion; enslaved people
Lincoln declared enslaved people in specified rebellious areas free and authorized Black military service. Escape, Black enlistment and Union military advances helped turn the proclamation into practical liberation.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The proclamation did not immediately free every enslaved person in the United States.
Sources
- National Archives: Thirteenth Amendment, text and history ↗
- Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014), chapter 8
- National Archives — Emancipation Proclamation ↗