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

With the Emancipation Proclamation in place, Douglass’s confidence in Lincoln deepened.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025

They were freed by Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 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

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued during the Civil War.

From Seattle Times • May 23, 2024

In Russia, serfdom only finally ended in 1861, two years before Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson