The Emancipation Proclamation was announced in September, but it went into effect January 1st.
And not one state. One city, and not just any kind of freed, but freed under order of military occupation (which in and of itself was probably still some kind of illegal). The freeing of any slave in the US by military fiat was illegal until the 13th Amendment. Even the Emancipation Proclamation was illegal and unconstitutional. The 13th Amendment was basically designed to back-rationalize all the shit the army had been doing since 1861 (which is when they started "freeing" slaves, by taking them as "contraband").
The Emancipation Proclamation was announced in September, but it went into effect January 1st.
And not one state. One city, and not just any kind of freed, but freed under order of military occupation (which in and of itself was probably still some kind of illegal). The freeing of any slave in the US by military fiat was illegal until the 13th Amendment. Even the Emancipation Proclamation was illegal and unconstitutional. The 13th Amendment was basically designed to back-rationalize all the shit the army had been doing since 1861 (which is when they started "freeing" slaves, by taking them as "contraband").