Executive Orders - Part 3/7 Continued

The Emancipation Proclamation actually consisted of two Executive Orders. The first one, dated September 22, 1862, freed all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. The second one, issued January 1, 1863, named 10 specific states where it would apply. However, like I said, it's aim was not to free the slaves. It was an ultimatum to the Confederacy. That becomes quite clear when you look at who it did not "free". It did not free slaves in any states that did not declare secession from the Union - among them the border slave states of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware. It also did not include Tennessee, which had mostly returned to Union control by that point. Virginia was included in the targeted states, but it specifically exempted the 48 counties that were in the process of forming West Virginia. It also specifically exempted areas in Louisiana that were under Union control.