Whereas, on the twentysecond 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, towit:
"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 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, towit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines,
Jefferson, St. Johns, 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 fortyeight 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 &
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-defense; 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:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.