Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)

These are adaptations, not the original. The original wording is always shown first. Each adapted version restates the same passage at about a grade 4, grade 7, or grade 10 reading level without adding or removing ideas. Quote the original in student writing.

Original wording

“…all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…”

Adapted · about grade 4

Enslaved people in the states fighting against the United States are now free, forever.

Adapted · about grade 7

All people held as slaves in any state, or part of a state, that is in rebellion against the United States are free from now on and forever.

Adapted · about grade 10

All persons held as slaves within any state or part of a state then in rebellion against the United States shall be, from that day forward, permanently free.

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Used in: Who freed the enslaved people?