By 1863, two years into the war, Lincoln changed the focus of the war to slavery and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation made freeing the slaves a goal of the Civil War. It also weakened efforts within England and France to officially recognize the Confederacy. As Union troops advanced into Confederate territory, they freed thousands of slaves per day. Many did not wait, but fled their owners to claim their freedom. Five slave states (the Border States) had remained loyal to the Union and were not at war with the federal government. Thus, Lincoln did not have authority to free slaves in those states so this Proclamation was not applied to those states. The Proclamation also did not apply to Tennessee, nor to areas within Virginia and Louisiana which Union forces already controlled.