Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was a declaration by United States President Abraham Lincoln announcing that all slaves in Confederate territory still in rebellion were freed. The Proclamation exempted slaveholding border states which had not seceded from the Union, and those states already under Union control. While it immediately freed only a small number of slaves (see below), it did authorize their freedom as Union forces took control of former Confederate territory — and it set the stage for slavery's ultimate abolition in the United States.

Immediate historical impact

Despite the limited immediate effect on the slaves, the proclamation represented a shift in the war objectives of the North—merely reuniting the nation would no longer become the sole outcome. It represented a major step toward the ultimate abolition of slavery in the United States.

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However, there were a limited number of slaves who were freed immediately by the proclamation. Runaway slaves who made it to Union lines had been held by the Union army as "contraband of war" in contraband camps; when the proclamation took effect they were told at midnight that they were free to leave. Also, the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia had been occupied by the Union navy earlier in the war. The whites had fled to the mainland while the blacks stayed, largely running their own lives. Naval officers read the proclamation to them and told them they were free.

Related Topics:
Sea Islands - Georgia

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In the military, the reaction to this proclamation varied widely, with some units coming to near mutiny in protest, and desertions were reported because of it. On the other hand, other units were inspired with the adoption of a cause that seemed to them to ennoble their efforts, such that at least one unit took up the motto "For Union and Liberty".

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Slaves were part of the "engine of war" for the Confederacy. They produced and prepared food; sewed uniforms; repaired railways; worked on farms and in factories, shipping yards, and mines; built fortifications; and served as hospital workers and common laborers. To encourage discontent among slaves in the Confederacy, a million copies of the Emancipation Proclamation were distributed in the Union-occupied South and, as hoped, news of it spread rapidly by word of mouth, arousing hopes of freedom, creating general confusion, and encouraging many to escape.

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