Slavery On January 1st, 1863, six months after Ida's birth, during the 3rd year of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared

"that all persons held as slaves...then...in rebellion, ... shall be then, thenceforward and forever free."

laveryMany historians view this Proclamation as one of the most significant documents in American history but the Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to those states that seceded from the Union and left out parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. This Proclamation changed the face of the Civil War. Black men were given acceptance into the Union Army and Navy. By the end of the war, 200,000 blacks had helped fight for the Union and freedom. It also made England and France who had originally showed sympathy for the Confederates, keep from giving support to the Confederates because it had become a war for freedom. These results of the Proclamation helped lead to the victory of the Union which in turn paved the way for the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, which gave all slaves their official freedom, to be passed.