On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all enslaved persons in states "in rebellion against the United States" were henceforth free. While it did not immediately free all enslaved people — it exempted border states and Union-controlled areas — it fundamentally transformed the character of the Civil War from a fight to preserve the Union into a war for human freedom. The Proclamation enabled the enlistment of Black soldiers in the Union Army (nearly 200,000 served) and set the stage for the 13th Amendment, which permanently abolished slavery in 1865.
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