The first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the cabinet.
Painted by F.B. Carpenter ; engraved by A.H. Ritchie, c1866.
(Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-2070 DLC)
President Abraham Lincoln, years into the bloody Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation granted freedom to slaves in the rebellious Confederate states.
