Which United States president issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863?

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

Lincoln issued the final proclamation on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. Officially called Proclamation 95, it declared enslaved people in areas still in rebellion against the United States to be free. It also authorized Black men to serve in the Union armed forces.

The proclamation did not immediately end slavery everywhere in the country. It excluded loyal slave states and areas already under Union control, and its enforcement depended on Union military advances. More than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans lived in the Confederate states covered by the measure.

The Thirteenth Amendment completed the legal abolition of slavery nationwide in 1865. The Emancipation Proclamation nevertheless changed the character of the war, linked Union victory to emancipation, and allowed the Union Army to recruit nearly 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors during the conflict.