Emancipation proclamation
USCIS Civics · Question 96 of 128

What U.S. war ended slavery?

Official Answer

The Civil War

In plain English

The Civil War ended slavery. When the war ended in 1865, the 13th Amendment made slavery illegal everywhere in the United States. Millions of enslaved people became free. The U.S. war that ended slavery was the Civil War.

From the archives

Emancipation proclamation
Emancipation proclamationFrancis Bicknell Carpenter, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Image: Emancipation proclamation — Francis Bicknell Carpenter, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.Answers verbatim from USCIS M-1778 (09/25)