The Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for enslaved people in which areas?

• A. All states
• B. Confederate areas
• C. Border states
• D. Free territories

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is how the Emancipation Proclamation operated as a wartime measure. Lincoln announced freedom for enslaved people in areas that were in rebellion against the United States—the Confederate states. It did not spare those enslaved people in slaveholding areas that remained loyal to the Union (the border states) or in places not under Confederate control. In other words, the proclamation freed those enslaved people only within Confederate territory, and even then only to the extent that Union forces could enforce it along the lines behind Confederate fronts. The broader, nationwide abolition came later with the Thirteenth Amendment, but the proclamation itself targeted the Confederate areas in rebellion.