The political significance of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, was monumental. It declared the freedom of all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory and shifted the Civil War's focus from solely preserving the Union to including the abolition of slavery as a core objective. While it did not immediately free all enslaved individuals, it undermined the Confederacy's labor forces and encouraged enslaved people to escape or join the Union Army. The proclamation also solidified moral arguments for the war, supported efforts to recruit African American soldiers, and paved the way for the eventual passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery.