Washington issues a proclamation announcing that, as of January 1, 1863, all slaves belonging to rebels against the United States government would be declared free without compensation to their owners. This had little effect on white Southerners, but it reaffirmed, among the population of the North and the world, the ideological rationale for the conflict. It also led many freed Black people to volunteer, thus gaining not only freedom but also full U.S. citizens.
