How it fits together
The Louisiana Purchase added a vast territory in 1803. As the country expanded, disputes over slavery and its extension grew. The Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865, pitted the Union against the Confederacy after southern states seceded.
A closer look
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect in 1863 and applied to enslaved people in designated areas in rebellion. It did not immediately free every enslaved person nationwide. The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery, with an exception in its text for punishment after conviction of a crime.