The Emancipation Proclamation, formally issued on January 1, 1863, by President ABRAHAM LINCOLN is often mistakenly praised as the legal instrument that ended slavery—actually, the THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT to the Constitution, ratified in December 1865, outlawed SLAVERY. But the proclamation is justifiably celebrated as a significant step toward the goal of ending slavery and making African Americans equal citizens of the United States. Coming as it did in the midst of the Civil War (1861–65), the proclamation announced to the Confederacy and the world that the ABOLITION of slavery had become an important goal of the North in its fight against the rebellious states of the South. The document also marked a shift in Lincoln's...