Did lincoln free the slaves? or did the slaves free themselves? explain with evidence.

No. He did issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which freed the slaves in the Confederacy. The proclamation was sent out to newspapers and read aloud to crowds of people. But Lincoln couldn't really enforce the laws in the ConfederateStates, since the Confederacy had its own president. The Thirteenth Amendment would officially free the slaves shortly after Lincoln's death in 1865.