Dd Lincoln free only slaves in the south?

Yes, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863, specifically freed enslaved people in the Confederate states that were in rebellion against the Union. However, it did not free enslaved individuals in border states or areas of the South that were already under Union control. The Proclamation was a strategic war measure aimed at weakening the Confederacy and ultimately contributed to the broader goal of ending slavery in the United States. The complete abolition of slavery was later achieved with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.