The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln in its final form on Jan. 1, 1863.

The Emancipation Proclamation declared “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a state that people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery, but would be followed by a constitutional amendment in order to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on Jan. 31, 1865 and ratified by the states on Dec. 6, 1865.

The Amendment declares that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”