Emancipation Proclamation

This Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure, and was therefore issued first to the military, as it was in charge of enforcement. The proclamation applied only to the ten states that seceded from the Union. Although the Union army liberated most Southern slaves during the war, freedom was not officially guaranteed for slaves in these states, the border states, and Texas, until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.