Fast Facts

Abraham Lincoln, who recognized the moral evils of slavery, seized the opportunity to end this horrific practice when, on September 22, 1862, he announced his intent to free all of the slaves in the rebelling Southern states with the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Emancipation Proclamation made fighting for the end of slavery a central purpose of the Civil War. The war was not just about preserving the Union but was also about winning freedom for those unjustly enslaved.

In order to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation in the states that were in rebellion (to which the measure applied) meant the Union had to win the war.

The Emancipation Proclamation marked the beginning of the end of the institution of slavery in the United States. But, it was only the beginning.

Lincoln’s proclamation freed the slaves in Confederate states in rebellion and used war powers granted to the president during wartime as the legal reasoning for doing so. However, no one—not even Lincoln – was sure that the Emancipation Proclamation would still be in effect after the war ended.