What is the Emancipation Proclamation and what did it do?

The Emancipation Proclamation is one of the most significant national documents in the history of America. It was an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The order was crucial for the black people in America. Before the order, the blacks were indiscriminately subject to abominable slavery. The Proclamation was issued in 1963. It abolished slavery as an institution. It proclaimed the slaves free. 

Fifty thousand slaves were immediately freed and the rest were also freed gradually. In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King speaks of the importance of the historic document: “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. 

This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.” The importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in the lives of the Negroes was immense. The issue of the Emancipation Proclamation was a significant historical event. It later paved the way for establishing a just society in America.