What significant event did the Emancipation Proclamation address?

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, specifically addressed the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states that were in rebellion against the Union. This executive order, which took effect on January 1, 1863, declared that all slaves in those areas were to be set free. This significant action not only aimed to weaken the Confederacy’s war effort by removing their labor force but also marked a turning point in the war by redefining it as a struggle for freedom. While it did not immediately free all slaves in the United States, it laid the groundwork for the eventual abolition of slavery with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment later that year.