jan 1, 1863 - 1863 - Effective on January 1st, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves in states that seceded and whose land was currently held by the Union. Practically, it only affected Tennessee to any great extent, but it did use executive power to do what the legislature had failed to do in the years leading up to the civil war. It would be followed by the Thirteenth Amendment, but the move was seen as a massive overreach of the kind that was most feared by the South.
Added to timeline:
Date:
jan 1, 1863
Now
~ 162 years ago