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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.


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.”


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 ]

Discover More

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.

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

From Los Angeles Times

Most important, the Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment freed millions of enslaved people.

From The Wall Street Journal

Abbe, a committed Republican, probably had endorsed the Emancipation Proclamation.

From The Wall Street Journal

In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people in the states that had rebelled.

From Literature

“This is where the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation took place in the South,” I’d tell the girls in a voice I’d lower to a whisper to reflect my reverence of the place.

From Literature