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ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY:January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, implementing the Republicans’ Confiscation Act of 1862, takes effect The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states of the Confederacy are, and henceforward shall be free. This proclamation was a significant step in the Civil War, as it aimed to change the war's focus from a military conflict to one that also sought to end slavery. It applied to over 3.5 million enslaved individuals in the Confederate states and was a pivotal moment in the fight for freedom in the United States