c) Freed slaves in rebel states

The key outcome of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, was the freedom of slaves in rebel states. This executive order declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were to be set free. While it did not immediately free a single slave, as it applied to areas beyond Union control, the proclamation fundamentally transformed the character of the Civil War. It shifted the war’s focus to include the moral issue of slavery and allowed for the enlistment of African American soldiers in the Union Army.