What Did Emancipation Proclamation Say?
What Did Emancipation Proclamation Say? 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.” What are the exact words of the Emancipation Proclamation?