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

But without understanding the context of the Emancipation Proclamation, emancipation appears merely tactical—and not what Lincoln understood it to be: a moral reckoning carried out under extraordinary political and personal pressure.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

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

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

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