[Amnorix]

January 1. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect in the states of the United States that had seceded to form the Confederate States of America. Issued under his authority as Commander in Chief, the Emancipation Proclamation initially had the unusual effect of freeing only those slaves that were in states that the Union did not control. The Union slave-holding border states, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia and Delaware, were not initially effected by the proclamation.

Slavery was not completely abolished in the United States until the ratification of the 13^th Amendment, in December, 1865.