This Day in History:, Lincoln Issues the
Emancipation Proclamation.
September 22, 1862.
Issued after the Union victory at Antietam, this
preliminary proclamation granted freedom
to more than 3 million slaves in the South.
The proclamation exempted the border states,
which, though faithful to the Union,
continued to harbor slaveholders.
In addition, it expanded the political focus of
the Civil War to include not only the preservation
of the Union, but also the abolition of slavery.
This isolated the South from
anti-slavery nations such as
France and Great Britain, who had
once been conciliatory toward the Rebel states.
The presidential order also
led to the creation of Black
military forces in the army and navy.
Three years later in 1865 — just
weeks before Lincoln's assassination — the 13th
Amendment abolishing slavery in the U.S. was passed