Where Liberty Is

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states

"are, and henceforward shall be free."

Quote: The Emancipation Proclamation. https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation. National Archives and Records Administration, Date accessed December 28, 2020.