The Emancipation Proclamation was a US executive order passed by President Abraham Lincoln on 1 January 1863 during the American Civil War. The proclamation abolished slavery across the United States, legally freeing 3,000,000 African-Americans from bondage. However, the proclamation would not be in effect until 1865, when the Confederate States of America was defeated and the American South reunited with the Union. On 6 December 1865, the proclamation was ratified by all American states.