1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in the middle of the Civil War, ending slavery in Confederate states. It was a calculated decision regarding the institution of slavery in America, and its vague wording included loopholes such as ignoring border states. Republican abolitionists in the North rejoiced the move, and slaves in the south slowly began to liberate themselves as Union armies marched into Confederate territory. Many white northerners worried the law would encourage blacks to move north and become competition for jobs, but Britain and France were dissuaded from pursuing diplomatic relations with the Confederacy as a result. It also inspired John Wilkes Booth to assassinate the president a few years later.
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