What name did Abraham Lincoln’s January 1, 1863, order receive during the Civil War?

Abraham Lincoln’s January 1, 1863, order was called the Emancipation Proclamation.

Officially known as Proclamation 95, it declared enslaved people in areas still rebelling against the United States to be free. Lincoln issued it during the American Civil War after releasing a preliminary version on September 22, 1862.

The proclamation did not immediately end slavery everywhere. It excluded loyal slave states and certain Union-controlled areas, and it depended on Union military advances for enforcement. Nevertheless, it changed the war’s stated purpose and authorized Black men to join the Union armed forces.

The proclamation applied to more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in Confederate-held territory. Slavery throughout the United States ended constitutionally after the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in December 1865. The proclamation is therefore important both as a wartime measure and as a major step toward nationwide abolition.