Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

The famous September document was a 100-day ultimatum, not an order that freed anyone that afternoon.

Five days after Antietam

On 22 September 1862, in Washington, Abraham Lincoln signed and issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation — five days after the Battle of Antietam left more than 23,000 soldiers killed, wounded or missing.

Lincoln had prepared an emancipation policy earlier but, on William H. Seward's advice, waited for a Union military success before publishing it. The check to Lee's invasion supplied the political opening, and Seward countersigned the September proclamation.

A hundred days to stop

The document warned that on 1 January 1863, people held as slaves in any state or designated part of a state then in rebellion would be free, and that the federal executive — including its military and naval authorities — would recognize and maintain that freedom.

It named no states. Lincoln said he would identify the rebellious states and parts of states in a second proclamation on New Year's Day, which gave the Confederate governments 100 days to cease rebellion before the promised measure took effect.

What the September text still contained

The preliminary proclamation reaffirmed that the war would continue in order to restore constitutional relations, renewed Lincoln's proposal for compensated abolition in the loyal slave states, and said consensual colonization efforts would continue. Adding threatened emancipation did not simply replace the stated war object.

Lincoln also ordered military and naval personnel to enforce existing congressional provisions protecting certain freedom seekers, and people confiscated from rebels, against being returned to slavery. The proclamation freed no one on 22 September.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 8 sources 2 audit passes Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1862-09-22.