Emancipation Proclamation

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the states engaged in rebellion against the United States, but not areas under Union control (the border states of Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, and parts of Tennessee, Louisiana, and Virginia). The proclamation was spread far and wide, and published in newspapers such as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Even so, some slaves did not hear of their freedom until years later. The news reached some parts of Texas in June 1865, after the war had ended. "Juneteenth" is still celebrated to commemorate the end of slavery.

When slaves heard the news, many left the plantations and headed north. Some joined the Union Army. After the war ended, the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed freedom for all slaves in the country.

Read the entire Brooklyn Daily Eagle article: "Emancipation. Proclamation of the President of the United States" (January 2, 1863).

Read the "Chronology of Emancipation during the Civil War" at http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/chronol.htm.

Citation - Document 46
Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online
January 2, 1863
Brooklyn Public Library – Brooklyn Collection
www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar