In a highly significant departure, Lincoln used his role as commander-in-chief to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863. It was delayed for many months because the North had lost many battles and Lincoln did not want the Proclamation to appear to be a measure born out of desperation, as this could affect how European nations conducted their relations with both the Union and the Confederacy; he waited until the North had won a significant battle at Antietam to issue the Proclamation. Under the guise of a military measure, it made all slaves in Confederate areas forever free under U.S. law with immediate effect if the state that they lived in was in rebellion against the United States of America on that day.