The main purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, was to declare the freedom of all enslaved people in the Confederate states that were in rebellion against the Union during the American Civil War. It was a strategic war measure intended to weaken the Confederacy by undermining its labor force and was also meant to bolster the Union's moral cause by aligning the war effort with the fight against slavery.
While the proclamation did not immediately free all enslaved individuals, it shifted the focus of the war towards the abolition of slavery and allowed for the enlistment of Black soldiers in the Union Army. Ultimately, it paved the way for the eventual abolition of slavery across the entire United States, which was formally achieved with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865.