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The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order by President Lincoln under the war powers act as stated in Article II section 2 of the United States Constitution. He signed it in the White House on January 1, 1863 although he announced his intentions on September 22, 1862 stating that the emancipation would apply to territories not in possession of the Union by January 1, 1863. This proclamation only freed the slaves in the states held by the Confederacy and did not apply to the border states that were in Union possession. State and other federal actions would remedy those states. The importance of the Proclamation was that it was viewed as a positive world wide. Great Britain and France, who originally backed the South, now backed the North after the proclamation. for they did not want to back the side that had slavery. Although Lincoln freed many slaves, it didn't outlaw slavery. In December, 1865, eight months after Lincoln's assassination, the 13th amendment to the US Constitution was ratified outlawing slavery.

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14y ago

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