Emancipation Proclamation

-The result of the Battle of Antietam led to President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. 

-On September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

-"It was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom."

-The proclamation declared, "all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."

-The Proclamation allowed black soldiers to fight in the war since soldiers were desperately needed. This new law also tied issue of slavery to the war.

-All slaves were freed except for those that lived in the rebel states- Lincoln did not want to anger the slaves states that were loyal to the Union.