What document freed slaves in Confederate states?

The Emancipation Proclamation was the document that freed enslaved people in the Confederate states during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln issued the final proclamation on January 1, 1863, after announcing its preliminary version in September 1862.

It applied to enslaved people in the states and areas still in rebellion against the United States, covering more than 3.5 million people. It did not immediately apply to the loyal border states or every Confederate area already under Union control, an important detail often missed in simplified accounts.

The proclamation also authorized Black men to serve in the Union military. Their enlistment strengthened the Union war effort, while the policy made ending slavery an explicit Union war aim. Slavery was ultimately abolished nationwide by the 13th Amendment in December 1865, so that amendment—not the proclamation—ended slavery everywhere under U.S. law.