Flashcard 7 - Civics Flashcard Set for the U.S. Citizenship Test

Any of these would be correct:

• It freed the slaves.
• It freed slaves in the Confederacy.
• It freed slaves in the Confederate states.
• It freed slaves in most Southern states.

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, was a turning point in the American Civil War. While it didn’t end slavery everywhere instantly, it fundamentally changed the purpose of the war and the legal status of millions of people.