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Words That Would Set People Free
President Lincoln signed a document 160 years ago that changed our country forever.
It was New Year’s Day, 1863. For nearly two years, the United States had been at war with itself. Northern and Southern states were battling each other in the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln was working hard to bring the U.S. back together as one nation.
On that day, he signed a document that would change the course of the war—and lead to freedom for millions of enslaved people. That document was called the Emancipation Proclamation.
Library of Congress
Abraham Lincoln (third from left) at the White House with his top advisers in July 1862
A Nation Divided
The Civil War started in April 1861. The fighting began soon after Lincoln took over as the country’s new president.
Several Southern states tried to secede from the United States. They formed the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. The Northern states were called the Union.
At the time, nearly 4 million enslaved people lived in the U.S. They or their ancestors had been taken from Africa.
Enslaved people had no rights or freedoms. They were forced to work without pay. Many enslaved people were forced to pick crops. Selling crops was how Confederate states made much of their money.
The Confederate states thought Lincoln would put an end to slavery in the U.S. They thought each state should have the right to make its own decision.
Library of Congress
Black soldiers in the Union Army helped win the war.
Fighting for Freedom
As the war raged on, Lincoln took action to help bring it an end. In 1863, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, a document he helped write. It said that enslaved people in the Confederate states were now free.
Lincoln’s order weakened the Confederate Army and its resources. It also allowed Black men to join the Union Army. This made the Union stronger. On April 9, 1865, the Union won the war.
An Important Step
The Proclamation didn’t include every enslaved person in the U.S. In some areas, slavery was still allowed. For all of the country’s enslaved people to be free, the Constitution had to be changed. That occurred in 1865, when the 13th Amendment was passed.
President Lincoln didn’t live to see this change. He was killed just a few months before. Still, Lincoln knew that signing the Emancipation Proclamation was an important step toward ending slavery in the U.S.
“If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act,” Lincoln said.
