Final answer:
The Emancipation Proclamation declared the freedom of slaves in rebellious states but did not apply to Union border states or certain Union-occupied Southern areas, having a more symbolic immediate impact.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln, declared that all persons held as slaves within rebellious states were to be free. However, the proclamation had important limits. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states and in rebelling areas already under Union control. Therefore, the immediate effect on slavery was symbolic, as it could not be enforced in areas beyond the Union army's control. Conversely, the proclamation excluded certain Union-occupied areas in the South, such as Tennessee, and specific locales like certain Virginia counties and Louisiana parishes. The proclamation's potency lay mostly in its establishment of freeing slaves as a war aim and its use to recruit African American soldiers into the Union army, which bolstered the Union's fighting force dramatically.