Emancipation Proclamation
U.S. Naturalization Test (2025 Standard) glossary · Civics
Definition
Lincoln's 1863 order freeing slaves in the Confederacy.
Emancipation Proclamation in plain English
The Emancipation Proclamation was an official order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the Civil War, declaring that enslaved people in the Confederate states (the Southern states then fighting against the U.S. government) were to be free. It didn't instantly free everyone everywhere, but it changed what the war was about, turning it into a fight to end slavery, and it paved the way for the total end of slavery. Picture it as the first official crack in a wall that would soon come down completely. Slavery was fully abolished nationwide a couple of years later by the 13th Amendment.
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