President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, whilst the third year of the bloody civil war was ongoing. The proclamation stated "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." This allowed the Thirteenth Amendment to come along as well.
The colonists had weapons hidden just in case. ... The spies played a role in shaping the course of the first military clash between the British army and the colonial militias. The role they played was by seeing when the British were coming and when they were coming. They probably also played a role in hiding the weapons.
