The Emancipation Proclamation was a document issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. It declared that all persons held as slaves within any states or designated parts of states in rebellion against the United States "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free". However, the proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory. Therefore, the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave. However, it fundamentally transformed the character of the war, as every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of Black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 Black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slaverys final destruction, it has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.