of the Emancipation Proclamation, in a painting by Henry Louis Stephens, from about 1863." />
The American Civil War pitted Southern states against Northern states. One of the major issues was whether the Southern states should be allowed to continue owning enslaved people. During the war, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This document, issued on January 1, 1863, declared that the enslaved people in the Southern states were free.
The president could not really enforce the proclamation in places that were still controlled by Southern troops. Even so, the proclamation was important because it made the Civil War a fight about slavery.
The proclamation also opened the U.S. Army to freed African Americans. As soon as the Northern armies captured a region, the enslaved people there were given their freedom. Nearly 180,000 of them joined the Northern forces. They were very helpful in bringing about the final surrender of the Southern forces in 1865. After the war, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended slavery throughout the United States.
The original Emancipation Proclamation is in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
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