# Did the Emancipation Proclamation actually result in freed slaves at the time **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975 "2017-08-18T13:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/1 "2017-08-18T13:43:39Z")
First I recognize that it was only aimed at freeing slaves in areas under rebellion. So that makes me think that it was widely ignored by southern slave holders (slave holders not in areas under rebellion, I suppose, went along their daily lives). Did the proclamation actually practically free any slaves at the time it was announced? Or did it at least result in freed slaves in areas that were eventually under the control of union forces? I’m also guessing slaves were less likely to take it to heart and leave their bondage in case there was retribution to them or their families. Just wondering if it resulted in anything for real other than a moral victory. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/2 "2017-08-18T13:56:06Z")
I suppose that as Northern troops took control of Southern land, they recognized the freedom of the slaves in that land. Which might already have been standard procedure for many Northern units, but the EP formalized it and made it universal. But yes, it was mostly a moral/morale matter. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/3 "2017-08-18T14:02:31Z")
It’s main short-term practical effect was to set policy for occupied lands; previously it had been up to local commanders what to do with slaves. In the long-term, it forced abolition to happen after the war, because once you had freed all of the slaves in rebellious areas, you couldn’t really go back on it. There almost certainly would have been more resistance to and reluctance to pass the 13th amendment if slavery was still operating neatly in the former Confederate states. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/4 "2017-08-18T14:04:55Z")
There were escaped slaves in the North that were technically still property of slaveholders in the states affected by the proclamation. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required that they be detained and returned to their owners. There were also slaves that had been “confiscated” and released by US Forces operating in states that had seceded as part of the war effort. They were legally freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. ---
**Author:** ![EdelweissPirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EdelweissPirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdelweissPirate)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/5 "2017-08-18T14:28:13Z")
The Emancipation Proclamation was effective on January 1st, 1863, and the Civil War officially ended on May 19th, 1865. But it took another five weeks for slaves in Texas to get news of the end of the war and enforcement of the emancipation proclamation. The day Texas slaves received the news, June 19th, is now [a holiday called Juneteenth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth). As Chronos suggests, it took Union General Granger marching into Galveston with 2000 federal troops to convey this news, which he did by addressing a crowd and announcing the existence of the Emancipation Proclamation. This, I gather, was news to Texans, ex-slave-owners and former slaves alike—and it was nearly three years after the Emancipation Proclamation was announced. So in some parts of the south, slaves weren’t even aware of the Emancipation Proclamation, much less freed by it, until weeks after the end of the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/6 "2017-08-18T14:38:11Z")
No. The proclamation only freed slaves in the Confederacy, not in any states that were part of the Union. Obviously, the Confederacy didn’t abide by it. Union troops could free slaves in territory they occupied, but, really, that was happening before – slaves would join up with the Union army or flee to the North when the troops came through. Ultimately, it was primarily a statement of principle (plus a political document to prevent the UK from intervening). (I just discovered today that slaves in West Virginia – part of the Union – were not emancipated until after slaves in Virginia were). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/7 "2017-08-18T14:44:02Z")
Huh, I thought that emancipation was part of the platform of the creation of West Virginia (I would say constitution, but I don’t know how long it took for them to write up a formal constitution). I did know that there were still slaves in Maryland, though. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/8 "2017-08-18T15:05:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, I thought that emancipation was part of the platform of the creation of West Virginia (I would say constitution, but I don’t know how long it took for them to write up a formal constitution). > > I did know that there were still slaves in Maryland, though. Lots of areas and several states were not covered by the EP. From wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The Proclamation applied in the eleven states that were still in rebellion in 1863, and thus did not cover the nearly 500,000 slaves in the slave-holding border states (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland or Delaware) which were Union states. Those slaves were freed by later separate state and federal actions. > > The state of Tennessee had already mostly returned to Union control, under a recognized Union government, so it was not named and was exempted. Virginia was named, but exemptions were specified for the 48 counties then in the process of forming the new state of West Virginia, and seven additional counties and two cities in the Union-controlled Tidewater region.[24] Also specifically exempted were New Orleans and 13 named parishes of Louisiana, which were mostly under federal control at the time of the Proclamation. These exemptions left unemancipated an additional 300,000 slaves.[25] So, not just northern states, but areas of southern states that were under northern control at the time. Definitely not the end of slavery, but very symbolic and surely “the beginning of the end” of legal slavery in the US. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/9 "2017-08-18T17:52:56Z")
It forced the Union armies to come up with a uniform policy on contrabands, which is what escaped slaves were called. Previously, it was up to the general in charge of an area to make a policy and some encouraged them to go back to their masters and others set up camps for them. After the EP Grant had all his generals set up camps and train the escaped slaves to do things to help the union army. He also encouraged the Army to set up regiments for black people to serve in. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/10 "2017-08-18T18:00:58Z")
There was another aspect of the Emancipation Proclamation that is mostly forgotten now, but was fairly important then, in the midst of a war. See this [newspaper headline](http://www.yorkblog.com/universal/files/2013/12/EmancipationGazette.jpg). It reads: “Important News! Emancipation Proclamation Slaves to be received into United States Service.” So negro slaves could enlist into all Union armies & navies (which wasn’t always allowed before). This could provide an influx of additional manpower for the Union forces. And for former slaves, it was a path to economic improvement. They were paid, given some training, moved away from their former masters, and (if they survived) were entitled to Veterans Benefits after the war (‘Forty acres and a mule’ out west). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/11 "2017-08-18T19:20:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No. The proclamation only freed slaves in the Confederacy, not in any states that were part of the Union. Obviously, the Confederacy didn’t abide by it. > > Union troops could free slaves in territory they occupied, but, really, that was happening before – slaves would join up with the Union army or flee to the North when the troops came through. > > Ultimately, it was primarily a statement of principle (plus a political document to prevent the UK from intervening). > > (I just discovered today that slaves in West Virginia – part of the Union – were not emancipated until after slaves in Virginia were). False: _Around 25,000 to 75,000 slaves in regions where the US Army was active were immediately emancipated._ > **[Emancipation Proclamation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation)** > > The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the effect of changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the ad ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/12 "2017-08-18T19:23:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No. The proclamation only freed slaves in the Confederacy, not in any states that were part of the Union. Obviously, the Confederacy didn’t abide by it. No, this is incorrect. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves whose owners lived in the Confederacy. That may seem like a nitpick but it was a significant issue. DinoR’s post explained why: there were thousands of slaves who had escaped from the Confederacy and were living in the United States. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, their status was uncertain. Pre-war law had said that escaped slaves were supposed to be returned to their owners. These laws had been suspended by the war but were still on the books. In theory, the thousands of escaped slaves might have been returned to their owners as part of a settlement. But the Emancipation Proclamation ended any uncertainty. It declared those thousands of slaves to be free at the moment it took effect. Even if the American forces had never advanced another mile, the Emancipation Proclamation would still have had an ongoing effect. Because it said that every slave who escaped was permanently free as soon as he or she crossed into the United States. The United States Army didn’t have to bring freedom to the slaves; the slaves could go to freedom. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/13 "2017-08-18T19:31:16Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > False: > > _Around 25,000 to 75,000 slaves in regions where the US Army was active were immediately emancipated._ > [Emancipation Proclamation - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation) Did you not read the entire article? > [@](#): > > (it) specifically excluded those counties of Virginia soon to form the state of West Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/14 "2017-08-18T19:36:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Did you not read the entire article? Still, many slaves _were_ freed. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/15 "2017-08-18T19:53:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Still, many slaves _were_ freed. Doubling down after being proven wrong, I see. [Lincoln didn’t free W. VA slaves.](http://wvrecord.com/stories/510590490-lincoln-didn-t-free-w-va-slaves) > [@](#): > > West Virginia broke away from Virginia and joined a war to end legal slavery, but legal slavery lasted longer in West Virginia than in Virginia. > > “West Virginia remained a slave state almost two years after slavery had been abolished in old Virginia,” according to the West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia. > > When West Virginia joined the Union on June 20, 1863 -– 143 years ago this week – its constitution did not abolish slavery. It provided for gradual abolition. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/16 "2017-08-18T20:45:19Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Doubling down after being proven wrong, I see. > > [Lincoln didn’t free W. VA slaves.](http://wvrecord.com/stories/510590490-lincoln-didn-t-free-w-va-slaves) You didnt “prove me wrong” at all. I never claimed slaves were freed _in WVa_. I stated and backed up with cites that slaves were indeed freed by the EP. As \*\*Little Nemo \*\* also correctly pointed out. Indeed, it seems only loginical some of those CSA slaves that got into the Union were in WVa. ---
**Author:** ![JessicaHoyt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@JessicaHoyt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessicaHoyt)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/17 "2017-08-18T21:34:24Z")
Nope. Not a single slave was freed by the Proclamation. Not only were slaves in the border states still in bondage. But slaves in areas that had been reconquered by the Union (basically New Orleans and maybe some of Tennessee) by January 1, 1863 were not freed either. It did mean that slaves in areas that the Union conquered after 1/1/1863 were freed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/18 "2017-08-18T22:55:57Z")
> [@JessicaHoyt](#): > > Nope. Not a single slave was freed by the Proclamation. > > Not only were slaves in the border states still in bondage. But slaves in areas that had been reconquered by the Union (basically New Orleans and maybe some of Tennessee) by January 1, 1863 were not freed either. > > It did mean that slaves in areas that the Union conquered after 1/1/1863 were freed. Wrong again. > **[What percent of slaves were not freed in the emancipation proclamation of...](https://www.quora.com/What-percent-of-slaves-were-not-freed-in-the-emancipation-proclamation-of-Abraham-Lincoln)** > > Answer (1 of 10): This is actually an interesting historical question. > > Technically, the proclamation freed all slaves in places of rebellion against the United States, with exemptions for unionist areas in the Confederacy, and also exemptions for... S\*ome people say that the Emancipation Proclamation was essentially a paper tiger because it didn’t actually free any slaves. Putting aside the fact that this assertion downplays the importance of the proclamation, this is wrong. Noted Civil War historian Eric Foner has estimated that anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 slaves were freed at the stroke of Lincoln’s pen on January 1st, 1863. These were areas (such as parts of Arkansas) that were still technically considered under rebellion, yet were at that present time being occupied by the Union Army. Thus, the slaves in these areas were freed for all intents and purposes. \* > **[Emancipation Proclamation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation)** > > The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the effect of changing the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the ad _Around 25,000 to 75,000 slaves in regions where the US Army was active were immediately emancipated._ \*Immediate impact[edit source] A circa 1870 photograph of two children who were likely recently emancipated. It has been inaccurately claimed that the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave;[78] historian Lerone Bennett, Jr. alleged that the proclamation was a hoax deliberately designed not to free any slaves.[79] However, as a result of the Proclamation, many slaves were freed during the course of the war, beginning with the day it took effect; eyewitness accounts at places such as Hilton Head, South Carolina,[80] and Port Royal, South Carolina[77] record celebrations on January 1 as thousands of blacks were informed of their new legal status of freedom. Estimates of how many thousands of slaves were freed immediately by the Emancipation Proclamation are varied. One contemporary estimate put the ‘contraband’ population of Union-occupied North Carolina at 10,000, and the Sea Islands of South Carolina also had a substantial population. Those 20,000 slaves were freed immediately by the Emancipation Proclamation."[28] This Union-occupied zone where freedom began at once included parts of eastern North Carolina, the Mississippi Valley, northern Alabama, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a large part of Arkansas, and the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina.[81] Although some counties of Union-occupied Virginia were exempted from the Proclamation, the lower Shenandoah Valley, and the area around Alexandria were covered.[28] Emancipation was immediately enforced as Union soldiers advanced into the Confederacy. Slaves fled their masters and were often assisted by Union soldiers.[82] … Runaway slaves who had escaped to Union lines had previously been held by the Union Army as “contraband of war” under the Confiscation Acts; when the proclamation took effect, they were told at midnight that they were free to leave. The Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia had been occupied by the Union Navy earlier in the war. The whites had fled to the mainland while the blacks stayed. An early program of Reconstruction was set up for the former slaves, including schools and training. Naval officers read the proclamation and told them they were free.\* It is a hoax perpetrated by Southern Apologists that “the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/19 "2017-08-19T00:29:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You didnt “prove me wrong” at all. I never claimed slaves were freed _in WVa_. I stated and backed up with cites that slaves were indeed freed by the EP. As \*\*Little Nemo > \*\* also correctly pointed out. Indeed, it seems only loginical some of those CSA slaves that got into the Union were in WVa. I thought you were responding to the last sentence in **Reality Chuck’s** post. It wasn’t really clear which part of his post you were replying to. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975/20 "2017-08-19T01:20:28Z")
> [@JessicaHoyt](#): > > Nope. Not a single slave was freed by the Proclamation. > > Not only were slaves in the border states still in bondage. But slaves in areas that had been reconquered by the Union (basically New Orleans and maybe some of Tennessee) by January 1, 1863 were not freed either. > > It did mean that slaves in areas that the Union conquered after 1/1/1863 were freed. Did you read my post or DinoR’s? We explained how thousands of slaves were freed on the day the Proclamation went into effect. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-emancipation-proclamation-actually-result-in-freed-slaves-at-the-time/793975.md?page=2)