What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

The Emancipation Proclamation specifically aimed to free enslaved individuals in Confederate states that were in rebellion against the Union during the American Civil War. Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, it declared that all slaves in those territories shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. This action was a strategic decision during the war, intended to weaken the Confederacy by dismantling their labor force, and it symbolically positioned the Union as a force against slavery. It is important to note that while the Proclamation had a significant impact on the status of enslaved people in the Confederate states, it did not abolish slavery in the entire United States; that change would come later with the passage of the 13th Amendment.