Editing Abolitionism (section)

====Civil War and final emancipation====
[[File:Mustered out, harper's weekly, little rock, AR.jpg|right|thumb|United States [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] black volunteer soldiers muster out to their first freedom at [[Little Rock]], [[Arkansas]], ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', 1866]]
On 16 April 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the [[District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act]], abolishing slavery in Washington D. C. Meanwhile, the Union suddenly found itself dealing with a steady stream of escaped slaves from the South rushing to Union lines. In response, Congress passed the [[Confiscation Acts]], which essentially declared escaped slaves from the South to be confiscated war property, called [[Contraband (American Civil War)|contrabands]], so that they would not be returned to their masters in the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. Although the initial act did not mention emancipation, the second Confiscation Act, passed on 17 July 1862, stated that escaped or liberated slaves belonging to anyone who participated in or supported the rebellion "shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves". On 1 January 1863, Lincoln issued the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], which was an executive order of the U.S. government that changed the legal status of 3&nbsp;million slaves in the Confederacy from "slave" to "henceforward ... free". Though slaves were legally freed by the Proclamation, they became actually free by escaping to federal lines, or by advances of federal troops. Even before the Emancipation Proclamation, many former slaves served the federal army as teamsters, cooks, laundresses, and laborers, as well as scouts, spies, and guides. Confederate General Robert Lee once said, "The chief source of information to the enemy is through our negroes."<ref>{{Cite web|title=African Americans in The Civil War|url=https://www.historynet.com/african-americans-in-the-civil-war|access-date=2021-07-24|website=HistoryNet|language=en-US}}</ref> The Emancipation Proclamation, however, provided that people it declared to be free who were "of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States", and the [[United States Colored Troops]] were formed.

Plantation owners sometimes moved the Black people they claimed to own as far as possible out of reach of the Union army.<ref>Leon F. Litwack, ''Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery'' (1979), pp. 30–36, 105–166.</ref> By "[[Juneteenth]]" (19 June 1865, in Texas), the Union Army controlled all of the Confederacy and liberated all its slaves. The owners were never compensated; nor were freed slaves compensated by former owners.<ref>Michael Vorenberg, ed., ''The Emancipation Proclamation: A Brief History with Documents'' (2010).</ref><ref>Peter Kolchin, "Reexamining Southern Emancipation in Comparative Perspective," ''Journal of Southern History'', 81#1 (February 2015), 7–40.</ref>

The border states were exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, but they too (except Delaware) began their own emancipation programs.<ref name="History Channel on the emancipation Proclamation">{{cite web|last1=Foner|first1=Eric|last2=Garraty|first2=John A.|title=Emancipation Proclamation |url=http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/emancipation-proclamation|publisher=History Channel|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref> As the war dragged on, both the federal government and Union states continued to take measures against slavery. In June 1864, the [[Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]], which required free states to aid in returning escaped slaves to slave states, was repealed. The state of Maryland abolished slavery on 13 October 1864. Missouri abolished slavery on 11 January 1865. [[West Virginia]], which had been admitted to the Union in 1863 as a slave state, but on the condition of gradual emancipation, fully abolished slavery on 3 February 1865. The [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]] took effect in December 1865, seven months after the end of the war, and finally ended slavery for non-criminals throughout the United States. It also abolished slavery among the Indian tribes, including the Alaska tribes that became part of the U.S. in 1867.<ref>Vorenberg, ''Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment'' (2004).</ref>