January 1 1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation Takes Effect

January 1 1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation Takes EffectRate this post Halfway through the war that literally divided the United States of America, President Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order on January 1, 1863 that would come to define his legacy. The Emancipation Proclamation, first threatened against the Confederacy in late September 1862, outlawed slavery in those states still fighting against the Union. When the country knitted itself back together after the American Civil War, it would be a nation built upon freedom — if not justice — for all. The question of slavery haunted the US from its inception. When the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia during the spring […]