Emancipation Proclamation Timeline

(September 22, 1862 – January 1, 1863)

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. It declared that all enslaved people in the Confederate states 'in rebellion' were to be set free, transforming the war into a fight for freedom and paving the way for the abolition of slavery through the Thirteenth Amendment. More Less

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Background and Legal Context

Northern states begin abolishing slavery

1777 - 1804

Between 1777 and 1804, every Northern state provided for the immediate or gradual abolition of slavery, creating a growing divide between free and slave states.

Image source: Emancipation Proclamation

Constitution of 1787 includes provisions on unfree persons

1787

The United States Constitution of 1787 did not use the word 'slavery' but included several provisions about unfree persons, shaping the legal framework within which slavery persisted for decades.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 enacted

1850

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required individuals to return runaway slaves to their owners, intensifying national tensions over the institution of slavery.

Image source: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Road to the Proclamation

Benjamin Butler declares escaped slaves contraband of war

May 1861

Union general Benjamin Butler declared that three slaves who escaped to Union lines were contraband of war and refused to return them, saying he was under no constitutional obligations to a foreign country, which Virginia now claimed to be.

Image source: Contraband (American Civil War)

First Confiscation Act signed

Aug 6, 1861

The First Confiscation Act freed slaves by confiscation and court proceedings who were employed against the Government and lawful authority of the United States.

Lincoln sends first annual message to Congress

Dec 1861

In December 1861, Lincoln sent his first annual message to Congress, then typically given in writing rather than delivered as a speech.

Thaddeus Stevens calls for total war including emancipation

Jan 1862

Thaddeus Stevens, the Republican leader in the House, called for total war against the rebellion to include emancipation of slaves, arguing that emancipation would ruin the rebel economy by forcing the loss of enslaved labor.

Image source: Thaddeus Stevens

Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves approved

Mar 13, 1862

Congress approved an act prohibiting all officers or persons in the military or naval service of the United States from returning fugitive slaves to their owners.

Image source: Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves

Slavery abolished in District of Columbia with compensation

Apr 16, 1862

Pursuant to a law signed by Lincoln, slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia on April 16, 1862, and owners were compensated for their losses.

Lincoln signs law prohibiting slavery in U.S. territories

Jun 19, 1862

Congress passed a bill on June 9, 1862 prohibiting slavery in all current and future United States territories, and Lincoln signed it into law on June 19. The act repudiated the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision.

Lincoln first discusses the Proclamation with his cabinet

Jul 1862

Lincoln first discussed the draft Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet in July 1862, beginning the process that would lead to its issuance.

Second Confiscation Act frees slaves in rebel-held areas

Jul 17, 1862

The Second Confiscation Act freed slaves within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by Union forces, explicitly providing that covered slaves would be permanently freed. Lincoln maintained that while Congress lacked power to free all slaves, he as commander in chief could do so as a military measure.

Horace Greeley publishes 'The Prayer of Twenty Millions'

Aug 1862

Republican editor Horace Greeley of the New-York Tribune wrote a famous editorial demanding a more aggressive attack on the Confederacy and faster emancipation of the slaves.

Image source: Horace Greeley

Battle of Antietam gives Lincoln needed victory

Sep 1862

In September 1862, the Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the victory he needed to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation from a position of strength.

Image source: Battle of Antietam

Mass rally in Chicago demands immediate emancipation

Sep 7, 1862

A mass rally in Chicago on September 7, 1862 demanded immediate and universal emancipation of slaves, reflecting growing public pressure on Lincoln.

Robert Gould Shaw expresses skepticism about the proclamation

Sep 25, 1862

Robert Gould Shaw was skeptical of the announcement and wrote to his mother, 'So the "Proclamation of Emancipation" has come at last, or rather, its forerunner.'

Image source: Robert Gould Shaw

The Proclamations

Lincoln issues Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

Sep 22, 1862

Five days after Antietam, Lincoln called his cabinet into session and issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (Proclamation 93), declaring that on January 1, 1863 he would free the slaves in states still in rebellion.

Lincoln sends envoys to Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas

Oct 15, 1862 - Nov 15, 1862

From mid-October to mid-November 1862, Lincoln sent personal envoys to Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas, actions suggesting he still considered saving the Union without freeing any slave a possibility.

Democrats gain seats in 1862 elections

Nov 1862

In the 1862 elections, the Democrats gained 28 seats in the House as well as the governorship of New York, adding political pressure around the pending proclamation.

Image source: 1862 United States elections

John Murray Forbes publishes pamphlets urging final proclamation

Dec 1862

Out of concern that Lincoln might not issue the Final Emancipation Proclamation, John Murray Forbes published pamphlets including the text of the Preliminary Proclamation and announcing the forthcoming final proclamation to take effect January 1st, 1863.

Image source: John Murray Forbes

Lincoln proposes compensated abolition amendment

Dec 1, 1862

In his Annual Message to Congress of December 1, 1862, Lincoln proposed an amendment to the Constitution providing that any state abolishing slavery before January 1, 1900 would receive compensation from the United States.

Watch Night ceremonies held on Freedom's Eve

Dec 31, 1862

On New Year's Eve in 1862, African Americans – enslaved and free – gathered across the United States to hold Watch Night ceremonies for 'Freedom's Eve', looking toward midnight and the promised fulfillment of the Proclamation.

Image source: New Year's Eve

Lincoln issues Final Emancipation Proclamation

Jan 1, 1863

As promised, Lincoln issued the Final Emancipation Proclamation (Proclamation 95) on January 1, 1863, freeing slaves in the ten states still in rebellion: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, and North Carolina, with specific exemptions for areas under Union control.

Aftermath and Abolition

Frederick Douglass hails Proclamation at Cooper Union

Feb 1863

In a speech at Cooper Union published in the New-York Tribune, Frederick Douglass called the Proclamation 'the greatest event of our nation's history, if not the greatest event of the century.'

Image source: Frederick Douglass

Confederacy passes retaliation law against Union

May 1863

A few months after the Proclamation took effect, the Confederacy passed a law demanding 'full and ample retaliation' against the United States in response to emancipation.

Garibaldi praises Lincoln as the great emancipator

Aug 6, 1863

Giuseppe Garibaldi wrote to Lincoln: 'Posterity will call you the great emancipator, a more enviable title than any crown could be, and greater than any merely mundane treasure.'

Image source: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Gettysburg Address references 'new birth of freedom'

Nov 19, 1863

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address made indirect reference to the Proclamation and the ending of slavery as a war goal with the phrase 'new birth of freedom'.

Image source: Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg Address references 'new birth of freedom'

Lincoln issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

Dec 1863

In December 1863, Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which dealt with the ways the rebel states could reconcile with the Union.

Maryland constitution abolishing slavery takes effect

Nov 1, 1864

A new state constitution abolishing slavery in Maryland went into effect on November 1, 1864, ending slavery in one of the border states exempted from the Proclamation.

Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee enact Lincoln's plan

Dec 1864

By December 1864, the Lincoln plan abolishing slavery had been enacted not only in Louisiana, but also in Arkansas and Tennessee, following his moderate reconstruction proposal of 1863.

Tennessee adopts constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery

Jan 1, 1865 - Mar 31, 1865

In early 1865, Tennessee adopted an amendment to its constitution prohibiting slavery, extending emancipation beyond the reach of the Proclamation itself.

Missouri convention abolishes slavery

Jan 11, 1865

Slavery in Missouri ended when a state convention approved an ordinance abolishing slavery by a vote of 60-4, and Governor Thomas C. Fletcher immediately proclaimed it.

Image source: History of slavery in Missouri

House passes Thirteenth Amendment

Jan 31, 1865

The Senate had passed the 13th Amendment by the necessary two-thirds vote on April 8, 1864; the House of Representatives did the same on January 31, 1865, sending it to the state legislatures for ratification.

Image source: Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

Thirteenth Amendment ratified

Dec 6, 1865

The required ratification by three-fourths of the states was completed on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed twelve days later, banning slavery throughout the United States. In Delaware and Kentucky, slavery continued until the amendment took effect on December 18, 1865.

Legacy and Commemoration

Martin Luther King Jr. gives Emancipation Centennial Address

Sep 12, 1962

Martin Luther King Jr. gave an 'Emancipation Proclamation Centennial Address' in New York City, placing the Proclamation alongside the Declaration of Independence as an 'imperishable' contribution to civilization.

Kennedy addresses civil rights on national television

Jun 11, 1963

President Kennedy spoke on national television about civil rights during the centennial year of the Emancipation Proclamation, pushing for civil rights legislation until his assassination on November 22, 1963.

Image source: John F. Kennedy Jr.

Commemorative stamp issued for Century of Negro Progress

Aug 16, 1963

A United States commemorative stamp marking the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on August 16, 1963, the opening day of the Century of Negro Progress Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois.

King delivers 'I Have a Dream' speech

Aug 28, 1963

King's most famous invocation of the Emancipation Proclamation came in a speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, often referred to as the 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Image source: I Have a Dream

Johnson invokes Proclamation in Voting Rights Act speech

Mar 15, 1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson again invoked the Proclamation in a speech presenting the Voting Rights Act at a joint session of Congress, noting that a century had passed since the Negro was freed yet equality remained unfulfilled.

Key Facts

President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam.
The final proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, declaring free all enslaved people in the ten states still in rebellion against the Union.
The proclamation did not apply to enslaved people in the border states loyal to the Union or areas of the Confederacy already under Union control.
It allowed African Americans to enlist in the Union Army and Navy; nearly 200,000 Black soldiers ultimately served in the Union forces.
While it did not immediately end slavery everywhere, the proclamation redefined the Civil War as a struggle for freedom and led directly to the Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865.

Source

This Emancipation Proclamation timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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