First Reading Of The Proclamation Of Emancipation Editorial Image

First Reading of the Proclamation of Emancipation, September 22, 1862, painting by F. B Carpenter in The Capitol, Washington. The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union and the Confederacy, the latter formed by states that had seceded.