Emancipation Proclamation

American  

[ih-man-suh-pey-shuhn prok-luh-mey-shuhn] / ɪˈmæn səˌpeɪ ʃən ˈprɒk ləˌmeɪ ʃən /

noun

U.S. History.

1. the proclamation issued by President Lincoln on September 22, 1862, that freed the people held as slaves in those territories still in rebellion against the Union from January 1, 1863, forward.

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Emancipation Proclamation Cultural  

1. A proclamation made by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that all slaves under the Confederacy were from then on “forever free.”

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Usage

What was the Emancipation Proclamation? The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by US President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War that ordered the freeing of enslaved peoples in Confederate states not yet captured by Union forces. How is Emancipation Proclamation pronounced?[ ih-man-suh-pey-shuhn prok-luh-mey-shuhn ]

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In itself, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free any slaves, because it applied only to rebellious areas that the federal government did not then control. It did not affect the four slave states that stayed in the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. Yet when people say that Lincoln “freed the slaves,” they are referring to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Example Sentences

Strong came to see that Lincoln’s decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation would turn Union forces into armies of liberation.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

Soskin’s great-grandmother, Leontine Breaux Allen, was born into slavery in Louisiana and freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025

The proclamation recognized slavery as an “inhumane practice” and the Emancipation Proclamation as having “ended its evil stain on American democracy.”

From Slate • Feb. 12, 2025

The news came two months after the end of the Civil War and about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

From Seattle Times • May 20, 2024

The order left both sides unhappy: Northern abolitionists were dissatisfied because the Emancipation Proclamation did not outlaw slavery everywhere; Southern slaveholders were enraged because it freed millions of slaves living in their states.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling