Did Lincoln free the slaves, or did the slaves free themselves?

Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation said that on January 1, 1863, all slaves held in Southern states would be "forever free." President Lincoln himself believed that if anyone remembered his achievements as president, the Emancipation Proclamation would be what they remembered about him. However, historians have pointed out that Lincoln's proclamation did not free slaves in border states that were still part of the Union, and did not free slaves in the Confederate states unless they were liberated by the Union army. Others have claimed that the slaves themselves actually should get credit for obtaining their own freedom.

Your assignment is to use primary and secondary sources to write a one-paragraph response that answers this important historical question: "Did Lincoln free the slaves, or did the slaves free themselves?"

(The image below is Lincoln's signature on the Emancipation Proclamation. It is one of the few documents that President Lincoln signed with his full time. He usually signed, "A. Lincoln" to most documents.)