The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.
The first one, issued September 22, 1862, declared the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not
return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second order, issued January 1, 1863, named ten specific states where it would apply. Lincoln
issued the Executive Order by his authority as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" under Article II, section 2 of the United States
Constitution.
The proclamation did not name the slave-holding border states of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, or Delaware, which had never declared a secession,
and so it did not free any slaves there. The state of Tennessee had already mostly returned to Union control, so it also was not named and was
exempted. Virginia was named, but exemptions were specified for the 48 counties that were in the process of forming West Virginia, as well as
seven other named counties and two cities. Also specifically exempted were New Orleans and thirteen named parishes of Louisiana, all of which
were also already mostly under Federal control at the time of the Proclamation
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