On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to the slaves in the Confederate States if the States did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the meaning and purpose of the Civil War. The war was no longer just about preserving the Union— it was also about freeing the slaves.
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