• The Emancipation Proclamation invited former slaves to join the Union military. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 newly freed African-American soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union.
• The original Emancipation Proclamation is now at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.

To learn more, and to read the full text of the Emancipation Proclamation, see the Emancipation Proclamation site at the National Archives.