EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

Key declarations

The historic document signed by President Abraham Lincoln that took effect Jan. 1, 1863, was the main subject of a 21/2-hour program Saturday at New Bethel Baptist Church on Youngstown’s South Side. Some facts about the document:

The Emancipation Proclamation allowed black men, many of them freed slaves, into the Union Navy and Army.

Toward the end of the Civil War, close to 200,000 black sailors and soldiers had fought for the Union.

While allowing slaves in rebellious states to be free, it exempted parts of the Confederacy already under Northern control.

It strengthened the Union militarily and politically while adding moral force to its cause.

The five-page document is in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration