It applied to areas only under Confederate control. Lincoln himself admitted that the proclamation probably had no legal justification beyond being a war measure.
In the end, all of the territory under the control of Confederate authorities on January 1, 1863 was conquered by the USA, and thus the Proclamation led to the freedom of the slaves in that territory.
Professor Gutzman, so those slaves were freed
on January 1, 1863 but slaves in Southern states like Maryland etc that didn’t secede still had slaves until the end of war in 1865?
I recently saw a talk by William Marvel in a book store-He’s probably the only other Lincoln biographer than Tom Delorenzo who openly criticizes Lincoln. He noted that the people of New Hampshire did not like the Emancipation Proclamation as it was heavy handed and of course the draft did not go over well and there was a small draft riot in Portsmouth
Marvel’s THE LAST DEPOT, and account of the Confederate POW camp at Andersonville, is outstanding — a great read, and it totally vindicates the commandant, who was the only Confederate executed after the war. (I say this as someone whose great grandfather and great-great uncle were held at Andersonville.)
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