The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by the 16th President of the US.
The Proclamation provided the legal framework for the emancipation of nearly all four million slaves as the Union armies advanced and committed the Union to ending slavery, which was controversial even in the North
 During the American Civil War, however, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation under his authority as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" under Article II, section 2 of the United States Constitution

