Emancipation Proclamation
Proper noun
Meaning
Emancipation Proclamation
A proclamation, announced by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, and going into effect on January 1, 1863; that all slaves in areas in rebellion (i.e. under Confederate control) would be free.
Examples
Abraham Lincoln, Brooklyn Museum The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.
As Henry Adams noted, "The Emancipation Proclamation has done more for us than all our former victories and all our diplomacy."
Britain had abolished it in the 1830s, and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 made support for the South even less appealing in Europe.
All abolished slavery on their own, except Kentucky and Delaware. citation Since the Emancipation Proclamation was based on the President's war powers, it only included territory held by Confederates at the time.
But Douglass concluded, finally, after Lincoln embraced the emancipation - issued the Emancipation Proclamation and after the war turned out well, that Lincoln was probably a better judge of American politics than Douglass himself was.
Enlisting former slaves in the military was official government policy after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.