On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation—which declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free”—went into effect. Drafted the previous summer, and announced shortly after the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam, the proclamation—an executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln—changed the legal status of enslaved people in the Confederacy, and effectively transformed the Union army into a force for libertation. The enactment of the proclamation inspired numerous artists to celebrate the document, its effects, and Lincoln. Below are some examples, all courtesy of the Library of Congress.