Who issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He signed the final proclamation on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War, using his authority as president and commander in chief.

The order declared enslaved people free in the Confederate states and parts of those states still in rebellion against the United States. It did not immediately apply to loyal slave states such as Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri, or to Confederate areas already under Union control. That limitation reflected both legal arguments and wartime strategy.

Lincoln first announced a preliminary version on September 22, 1862, five days after the Union victory at Antietam. The final document also authorized Black men to serve in the Union armed forces. More than 3.5 million enslaved people were covered by its terms, although freedom depended on Union military progress. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States.