Comparing and Contrasting the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment and General Order No. 3

• The Emancipation Proclamation was a Presidential proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln. 
• The joint resolution of the 13th Amendment is a Congressional document approved by 2/3 of both houses of Congress.
• General Order No. 3 (the Juneteenth Order) is a military order written in an informal style. 
  
  
• The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to people enslaved in areas currently in rebellion and they are specifically listed in the proclamation.
• Once approved, the 13th Amendment would apply to all enslaved people across the entire United States.
• General Order No. 3 was issued to the people of Texas and informed them of the existence of the Emancipation Proclamation.
  
  
• The Emancipation Proclamation described enslaved people as "all persons held as slaves" and tells them to abstain from all violence (except in self-defense) and to labor for reasonable wages. 
• The 13th Amendment describes ending "slavery or involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime."
• General Order No. 3 describes formerly enslaved people as "freedmen" and tells them they have "absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property" and tells them to remain at their homes and work for wages.

In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” 

Because it was a military measure, however, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Union control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.

 

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it did fundamentally transform the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, 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.

Lincoln recognized that the Emancipation Proclamation would have to be followed by a constitutional amendment in order to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The necessary number of states (three-fourths) ratified it by December 6, 1865. 

On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s historic Emancipation Proclamation, U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3, which informed the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free. Granger commanded the Headquarters District of Texas, and his troops had arrived in Galveston the previous day.

 

This order represents the Federal Government’s final execution and fulfillment of the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation. The people to whom this order was addressed were the last group of Americans to be informed that all formerly enslaved persons were now free.

The effects of this order would later be celebrated as the "Juneteenth" holiday, a combination of June and nineteenth. It is also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, and it is the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.