The Emancipation Proclamation became effective on January 1, 1863. Issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, it declared the freedom of all enslaved people in the Confederate states. While the Proclamation did not immediately free all enslaved individuals, it was a crucial turning point in the war and signaled a shift in the Union's war aims from merely preserving the Union to also including the abolishment of slavery. It paved the way for the eventual passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, thus marking a significant moment in American history.