Answer: 1865.
Step-by-step explanation:
While the Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 did aide in the processes of abolition, it was not the sole proprietor of slavery's end.
Here are some key advancements the Proclamation had accomplished:
- Declared that all slaves within territory under the Confederacy were to be considered free.
- Effectively weakened the strength and ideals of the Confederacy.
- A step forward that had allowed the nation to focus on more on the values of freedom and the morality of stripping it away from individuals or a targeted group.
Though the end of slavery did not take its full effect until 1865, the ratification of the 13th amendment.
This powerful amendment solidified and ensured the following:
- Preventing the (possible) use of any loophole regarding the continuance of slavery.
- Abolished slavery through the entirety of the United States, not just the Confederacy.
- All men were now considered to be "equal". (Though "equitable" is an entirely different topic).
It is because of this that we consider 1865 to be the year slavery was abolished, and the Proclamation to only be the stepping stone to the end of slavery.