Emancipation Proclamation

Francis Bicknell Carpenter, First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, 1864.
Oil on canvas. US Senate
Printed in Washington, DC, c. Jan. 3, 1863
Lent by Chapin Library of Rare Books, Williams College

This version of the Emancipation Proclamation is the third edition of the document, printed within days of the first. This plain text document was printed by the State Department as the official folio record.

Download a transcription of the Emancipation Proclamation (PDF)