Which U.S. president issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863?

Abraham Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.

The wartime order declared enslaved people in the Confederate states still in rebellion to be free. It did not immediately abolish slavery everywhere: it excluded loyal border states and areas already under Union control. Its legal authority rested on Lincoln's wartime powers as commander in chief.

Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation on September 22, 1862, after the Union claimed victory at the Battle of Antietam. The final order gave Confederate states a deadline to return to the Union; none did so, and the proclamation took effect on New Year's Day.

The measure also authorized Black men to join the Union Army and Navy. Nearly 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors ultimately served the Union cause. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in December 1865, completed the nationwide constitutional abolition of slavery.