Emancipation Proclamation
Americannoun
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The majority of both white and Black respondents, associated it with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which was declared two and a half years before Juneteenth.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
While President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, the proclamation didn’t apply to border states loyal to the Union.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
Not every enslaved person actually gained their freedom after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026
When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863—declaring enslaved people in the rebellious states “forever free” and opening the Union Army to black enlistment—Douglass and other skeptics were electrified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
Constitutional amendments guaranteeing African Americans “equal protection of the laws” and the right to vote proved as impotent as the Emancipation Proclamation once a white backlash against Reconstruction gained steam.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
