Question 4 (multiple choice worth 5 points)

read the passage below. then answer the question that follows using information and evidence from the text.

that on the first day of january, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the united states, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the united states, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom

why was this document written?
a. to free enslaved people
b. to issue orders to government officials
c. to declare that slavery was morally wrong
d. to punish rebellious slaves