The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared that all enslaved people in the Confederate states were to be set free. While it did not immediately free any enslaved individuals in the Union slave states or areas occupied by Union troops, it fundamentally transformed the nature of the Civil War, adding moral impetus against slavery. It allowed for the enlistment of African American soldiers in the Union Army, bolstering their fight for freedom and rights. The Proclamation paved the way for the eventual passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.