Slavery which was one of many causes of the Civil War later led on to the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential declaration and official request issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. Abraham Lincoln was against slavery, “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong” (Foner, 2010). Lincoln wants everyone to be treated equally. He announced in the beginning of 1863, he will free all slaves. The Battle of Antietam gave president Lincoln an opportunity to free enslaved slaves in the South. A couple days after the hard-fought battle, on September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which liberated all slaves in "enemy territory" as of January 1,