The Proclamation was first announced on September 22, 1862 by Abraham Lincoln, but it did not take effect until Lincoln issued the Proclamation for the second time on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in the Confederate States. In addition to freeing slaves from states in rebellion, he also allowed freed African Americans to join the U.S. military. Both the Union and the Confederacy were affected in different ways by the Emancipation Proclamation. For the Confederacy, many slaves were lost on plantations once freed. This made it especially difficult for men who entered the army and left their plantations in the hands of their families and slaves. As Lincoln had stated in the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), the government was to "recognize and maintain the liberty of said persons" freed by the executive order, which meant that all freed African Americans were to be recognized as American citizens since 'they weren't. Before. While newly free African Americans were able to stay in the South, many migrated North to start new lives. While many left plantations in the South, both the Confederate Army and the Union Army gained many freed African Americans onto the battlefield. The Union gained more African Americans than the Union