What effect did the Emancipation Proclamation have on Confederate states?

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared the freedom of all enslaved people in states that were in rebellion against the Union. However, it did not apply to slave-holding Border States or areas of the South that had already been captured by Union forces. As such, the proclamation effectively had no legal authority in the Confederate states, as they were not part of the Union at the time and did not recognize Lincoln's authority.

This lack of immediate effect reinforced the Proclamation’s role more as a wartime measure, aimed at undermining the Confederate war effort by striking at the institution of slavery, which was central to the Southern economy and social structure. By declaring those enslaved in the rebellious states to be free, Lincoln intended to weaken the Confederacy, though it was not a means of directly liberating any enslaved individuals at the moment.

Thus, the assertion that the Emancipation Proclamation had no effect on states in rebellion captures the legal and immediate reality of its impact at the time it was issued. It was primarily a significant strategic move in the larger context of the Civil War rather than an enforceable decree in those regions resisting Union authority.