Title: Emancipation Proclamation
Headings: Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
Overview
Key Lecture Points
Exploration Questions
Reflective Questions
More to Explore
Books For Further Reading

Content: The second Emancipation Proclamation was indeed issued on January 1, 1863 and completed the promise by freeing all slaves in all rebellious areas. The proclamation exempted the Border States and areas already under Union Control. It also said that African Americans would be able to serve in the Union military. The Emancipation Proclamation was a major turning point in the Civil War in that it changed the aim of the war from preserving the Union to being a fight for human freedom, shifted a huge labor force that could benefit the Union war effort from the South to the North and forestalled the potential recognition of the Confederacy by England or France. The Emancipation Proclamation was a major step on the path to the abolition of slavery that started with the slaves taking the initiative to escape from their owners in the first days of the war and was completed with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. After the Emancipation Proclamation African Americans’ aspirations changed from not just wanting freedom to wanting full citizenship and equality, a promise that wouldn’t be fully realized until the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Exploration Questions
Describe the key elements of the Emancipation Proclamation. How is it different from the 13th Amendment? What role did each document play in ending slavery? Describe the political, military and moral consequences of the Emancipation Proclamation.