+United Nations Human Rights +UNITED NATIONS Headquarters The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential
proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January
1, 1863.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential
proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January
1, 1863. It purported to change the federal legal status of more than 3 million
enslaved people in the designated areas of the South from "slave" to
"free", although its actual effect was less. It had the practical
effect that as soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate
government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave
became legally free.
Eventually it reached and liberated all of the designated
slaves. It was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed
to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch
(including the Army and Navy) of the United States.
It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in ten states.
Because it was issued under the President's war powers, it necessarily excluded
areas not in rebellion – it applied to more than 3 million of the 4 million
slaves at the time. The Proclamation was based on the president's
constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces; it was not
a law passed by Congress.
The Proclamation also ordered that suitable persons among
those freed could be enrolled into the paid service of United States' forces,
and ordered the Union Army (and all segments of the Executive branch) to
"recognize and maintain the freedom of" the ex-slaves. The
Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not outlaw slavery, and did not
grant citizenship to the ex-slaves (called freedmen). It made the eradication
of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the
Union.
Around 20,000 to 50,000 slaves in regions where rebellion
had already been subdued were immediately emancipated. It could not be enforced
in areas still under rebellion, but as the Union army took control of
Confederate regions, the Proclamation provided the legal framework for freeing
more than 3 million slaves in those regions.
Prior to the
Proclamation, in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, escaped slaves
were either returned to their masters or held in camps as contraband for later
return. The Proclamation applied only to slaves in Confederate-held lands; it
did not apply to those in the four slave states that were not in rebellion
(Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri, which were unnamed), nor to
Tennessee (unnamed but occupied by Union troops since 1862) and lower Louisiana
(also under occupation), and specifically excluded those counties of Virginia
soon to form the state of West Virginia. Also specifically excluded (by name)
were some regions already controlled by the Union army. Emancipation in those
places would come after separate state actions and/or the December 1865
ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery and indentured
servitude, except for those duly convicted of a crime, illegal everywhere
subject to United States jurisdiction.
On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary
warning that he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state that
did not end its rebellion against the Union by January 1, 1863.
None of the
Confederate states restored themselves to the Union, and Lincoln's order, was
signed and issued and took effect on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation
outraged white Southerners (and their sympathizers) who envisioned a race war.
It angered some Northern Democrats, energized anti-slavery forces, and
undermined elements in Europe that wanted to intervene to help the Confederacy.
The Proclamation lifted the spirits of African Americans
both free and slave. It led many slaves to escape from their masters and get to
Union lines to obtain their freedom, and to join the Union Army.
The Emancipation Proclamation broadened the goals of the
Civil War. While slavery had been a major issue that led to the war, Lincoln's
only mission at the start of the war was to maintain the Union. The
Proclamation made freeing the slaves an explicit goal of the Union war effort.
Establishing the abolition of slavery as one of the two primary war goals
served to deter intervention by Britain and France.
The Emancipation Proclamation was never challenged in
court.
To ensure the abolition of slavery in all of the U.S., Lincoln pushed
for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Congress passed it by the necessary
two-thirds vote on January 31, 1865, and it was ratified by the states on
December 6, 1865
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