Which president issued the Emancipation Proclamation?

• A. George Washington
• B. Abraham Lincoln
• C. Ulysses S. Grant
• D. Andrew Johnson

Answer: (B)

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War as a wartime measure that declared enslaved people in Confederate-held areas to be free as of January 1, 1863. It reframed the purpose of the war around abolition and helped pave the way for the abolition of slavery nationwide, especially by allowing Black soldiers to join the Union Army. It didn’t apply to enslaved people in border states or areas already under Union control, and it wasn’t a law passed by Congress; a later constitutional amendment, the 13th, ultimately ended slavery everywhere. The other figures listed were not the ones who issued this proclamation.