Question 95 of 128 American History
What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
Answers USCIS accepts
- Freed the slaves
- Freed slaves in the Confederacy
- Freed slaves in the Confederate states
- Freed slaves in most Southern states
Give any one of these answers at your interview.
The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the Confederate states.
What it means
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. It declared enslaved people in the Confederate (rebelling Southern) states to be free.
Slavery was fully ended across the country by the 13th Amendment in 1865. The test answer is “freed the slaves.”
Memory tip: Emancipation = freedom.
Quiz yourself
What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
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Official source: USCIS M-1778 (09/25), 128 Civics Questions and Answers (2025 version). Last checked: .