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Contact Us - Visit The Civil-War.Net The Last Full Measure Selected Works of Abraham Lincoln |
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Abraham Lincoln 1809 - 1865
Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863
By the President of the United States of
America: A Proclamation:
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of
September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United
States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"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.
"That the Executive will, on the first day
of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of
States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be
in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or
the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in
the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections
wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have
participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be
deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are
not then in rebellion against the United States." Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the
Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles,
St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St.
Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia,
(except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the
counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess
Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and
which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this
proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the
purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves
within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward
shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and
maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so
declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self
defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they
labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that
such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed
service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and
other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be
an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity,
I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of
Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the
eighty-seventh. By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
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