Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation among documents sold for $6.2m in New York

Limited edition copies of the Emancipation Proclamation delivered on January 1, 1863 and the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery two years later, were issued by the man many still consider the greatest US president.

Sotheby's, which conducted the sale on Wednesday, said the copy of the 13th amendment sold for $US2.4 million, while the proclamation was snapped up by a telephone bidder for $US2.17 million — both documents are framed.

Lincoln signed the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, on February 1, 1865 in the culmination of 70 years of discord over the status of slaves.

The copy sold is one of 14 signed by Lincoln, his vice president, the speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax and in this case, by 36 senators.