Emancipation Proclamation: An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 declaring all slaves in Confederate territory to be set free.
Fourteenth Amendment: Ratified in 1868, it granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”
Fifteenth Amendment: Ratified in 1870, it prohibited governments from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.