On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the
Civil War , which set a date for the freedom of more than 3
million enslaved in the United States and would also recast
the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

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President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation. Attempting to stitch together a nation mired in
a bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln made a last-ditch, but
carefully calculated, decision regarding the institution of
slavery in America.