Question 95: What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
Official answers (any one counts)
USCIS accepts any of these answers. If the question asks for more than one, give as many as it asks.
- Freed the slaves
- Freed slaves in the Confederacy
- Freed slaves in the Confederate states
- Freed slaves in most Southern states
Grandpa explains
Lincoln signed it in 1863, kiddo. It freed the slaves in the Southern states fighting the Union.
Careful: these are NOT the answer
These are the common mix-ups. The app uses them as traps so you practice.
- Ended the Civil War
- Gave women the vote
- Declared independence
On the 2008 test this is question 76
If you filed your N-400 before October 20, 2025, you take the 2008 version. Which one is mine?
What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
- freed the slaves
- freed slaves in the Confederacy
- freed slaves in the Confederate states
- freed slaves in most Southern states
Video lesson on this topic: The 1800s
More questions on this topic
- 96What U.S. war ended slavery?
- 97What amendment says all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are U.S. citizens?
- 98When did all men get the right to vote?
- 99Name one leader of the women's rights movement in the 1800s.
- 90What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
- 91Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
Official sources:
- USCIS · 128 Civics Questions and Answers (2025 version), M-1778 (09/25) ↗ · checked October 6, 2026
The plain explanation is ours; the official answers are USCIS's, word for word.