On January 1, 1863, the President of America, Abraham Lincoln, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most important documents in American history.
The proclamation proclaimed freedom for all slaves in the states who fought against the Union. Perhaps the most significant effect of the Emancipation Proclamation was to extend the purpose of the American Civil War.
The document made it clear that the war was not fought solely for the sake of rebuilding the Union by accepting the southern states governed by slavery, but also for the complete abolition of slavery.
According to one interpretation, the Emancipation Proclamation meant that the Union Army became a liberation army when it successfully invaded the southern states and destroyed the Confederate military force. However, some Southerners still call this conflict: War with the Northern Aggressor.
