This Proclamation was given during the third year of the civil war by Abraham Lincoln. The importance of this image is it was the change of federal law making all slaves in any state from slaves to free. This impacted 75,000 slaves immediately, but the other slaves still in Confederate states had to wait to be freed by US military. Another significant impact that also came along with this was the Fugative Slave Act was no longer recognized. With this hope around 200,000 slaves escaped to Union states and joined the army to fight the Confederate. The 13th Amendment was able to go into effect in 1865 because of this Proclamation provided legal representation of what the Union wanted to accomplish and also directly faced the issue the country was fighting over. This Proclamation was directed at all the states that were still in rebellion. Once Lincoln won re-election he was able to ensure this would not be turned over in court by pushing for the 13th amendment ending legal slavery in every state in the country.
“Print of Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln, 1865.” IDCA, 14 Jan. 2019, iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/african-americans-and-civil-war/print.
“Emancipation Proclamation.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation.
“The Emancipation Proclamation.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, www.ushistory.org/us/34a.asp.