New York – Emancipation Proclamation Copy Sells For $2M In NY

New York – One of the rare, original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation has sold at a New York auction for more than $2 million.

The 1863 document signed by President Abraham Lincoln ordered all slaves to be freed in states then in rebellion.

The proclamation was auctioned Tuesday for $2.1 million at Manhattan’s Robert Siegel Auction Galleries. That price includes a buyer’s premium.

The document was signed during the Civil War. It provided the legal framework for the emancipation of millions of slaves as the Union armies advanced.

A century later, President Lyndon Johnson invoked the proclamation while presenting the Voting Rights Act to Congress. He said equality was still an unfulfilled promise for black Americans.