What
is the Emancipation Proclamation?
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States
President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War under his war powers.
It proclaimed the freedom
of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, & immediately freed 50,000 of them, with the rest freed as Union armies
advanced. (Eric Foner, The Fiery Trial Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) pp 239-42).
