Abraham Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War.
The order declared enslaved people in areas still rebelling against the United States to be free. It followed Lincoln's preliminary proclamation of September 22, 1862, which gave Confederate states a deadline to end their rebellion or face emancipation measures.
The final proclamation did not immediately end slavery everywhere. It excluded loyal slave states and certain areas already under Union control. Its legal reach was limited by wartime conditions, but it transformed the purpose of the war and authorized Black men to enlist in the Union Army and Navy.
The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States. Juneteenth commemorates the later enforcement of emancipation in Texas on June 19, 1865, not the original issuance date of Lincoln's proclamation.