Final answer:
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, officially freeing slaves living in the Confederate States.
Step-by-step explanation:
On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which officially freed slaves living in the Confederate States. The proclamation stated that all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state that was in rebellion against the United States would be forever free. However, it's important to note that the proclamation did not immediately free the enslaved people in the Confederate states, as the lack of Union army presence in those areas meant that the directive could not be enforced.