The Emancipation Proclamation

Thenceforward, and Forever Free

Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. It stipulated that if the Southern states did not cease their rebellion by January 1, 1863, then the Proclamation would go into effect. When the Confederacy did not yield, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious state “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

Explore the Emancipation Proclamation

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln bordered by two American flags

Civil War | Article

10 datos: La Proclamación de Emancipación

Podría decirse que la Proclamación de Emancipación es uno de los diez documentos más importantes de la historia de los Estados Unidos; sin embargo...

Civil War | Primary Source

Abraham Lincoln's Draft of the Emancipation Proclamation

A draft of the Emancipation Proclamation that Lincoln read to his cabinet on July 22, 1862.

Civil War | Video

The Road to Emancipation

Historian and former curator of the African American Civil War Museum Hari Jones discusses the legislative steps that made the Emancipation...

Civil War | Article

"The Year of Jubilee Has Come" - The First South Carolina Infantry at Camp Saxton

As Prince Rivers stood on a freshly constructed platform in the shade of moss-covered live oak trees at Camp Saxton, he looked down upon the faces of...

Civil War | Primary Source

Emancipation Proclamation Primary Source Questions

The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States if the States did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. In...