The Emancipation Proclamation

history · civil war · freedom · courage

A Presidential Order. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an official executive order that changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans from enslaved to free.

Freedom Through Action. The moment enslaved people escaped their enslavers and reached Union Army lines, or when Union troops advanced into Confederate territory, those people became permanently free according to the proclamation.

Soldiers and Citizens. The Emancipation Proclamation allowed formerly enslaved people to join the United States armed forces and fight for their own freedom and their country.

A Turning Point. This proclamation played a huge role in ending slavery across the entire United States and showed that the Civil War was not just about preserving the Union, but about human freedom.