Civil Service Practice Exam

The primary effect of the Emancipation Proclamation was that it freed slaves in the Confederate states. Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, the Proclamation declared that all enslaved people in the states that were in rebellion against the Union were to be set free. This was a significant step in the fight against slavery and added a moral imperative to the Union's cause in the Civil War. The Proclamation did not apply to border states loyal to the Union or areas that had already been captured by Union forces, meaning it was not an immediate end to slavery throughout the entire country. However, it fundamentally aimed to weaken the Confederacy's war effort, which relied heavily on slave labor. Additionally, by transforming the focus of the Civil War to include the abolition of slavery as a goal, it also set the stage for the eventual passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery altogether. The other choices do not accurately reflect the primary intent or outcome of the Emancipation Proclamation. Ending the Civil War was a complex process requiring various military and political efforts beyond this single proclamation. The granting of women's right to vote came much later and was not related to the issues addressed by the Emancipation Proclamation.