A public announcement or declaration made by an authority, typically to inform citizens of new laws, policies, or important events. Proclamations serve as official communications from government to the governed, often posted publicly or announced ceremonially.
From Latin 'proclamatio,' meaning 'a crying out' or 'public announcement,' derived from 'proclamare' (to cry out publicly). The term emphasized the oral and public nature of official communications in societies where literacy was limited.
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 technically freed no slaves on the day it was issued—it only applied to rebellious states where Lincoln had no power to enforce it. Yet this strategic document transformed the Civil War from a fight to preserve the Union into a moral crusade against slavery, preventing European intervention on behalf of the Confederacy.
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