Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided
that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons
for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment;"
and
Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State governments of
several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have
committed and are now guilty of treason against the United States; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been
enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property
and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated,
and also declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time
thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated
in the existing rebellion, in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty,
with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may
deem expedient for the public welfare; and
Whereas the congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon
accords with well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning power;
and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the United
States has issued several proclamations, with provisions in regard to the
liberation of slaves; and
Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said
rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and to reinaugurate
loyal State governments within and for their respective States; therefore,
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare,
and make known to all persons who have, directly or by implication, participated
in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full
pardon is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration
of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where
rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that
every such person shall take and subscribe an oath, and thenceforward keep
and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall be registered for
permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following,
to wit:
"I, --------, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that
I will henceforth faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder; and that
I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress
passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long
and so far as not repealed, modified or held void by Congress, or by decision
of the Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully
support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion
having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared
void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God."
The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are
all who are, or shall have been, civil or diplomatic officers or agents
of the so-called confederate government; all who have left judicial stations
under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who are, or shall have
been, military or naval officers of said so-called confederate government
above the rank of colonel in the army, or of lieutenant in the navy; all
who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion; all
who resigned commissions in the army or navy of the United States, and
afterwards aided the rebellion; and all who have engaged in any way in
treating colored persons or white persons, in charge of such, otherwise
than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which persons may have been found
in the United States service, as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacity.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that whenever, in
any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number
of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such
State at the Presidential election of the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid and not having
since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the
State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding
all others, shall re-establish a State government which shall be republican,
and in no wise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the
true government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the
benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that "The
United States shall guaranty to every State in this union a republican
form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and,
on application of the legislature, or the executive, (when the legislature
cannot be convened,) against domestic violence."
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision
which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the freed
people of such State, which shall recognize and declare their permanent
freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent,
as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition as a laboring,
landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the national Executive.
And it is suggested as not improper, that, in constructing a loyal State
government in any State, the name of the State, the boundary, the subdivisions,
the constitution, and the general code of laws, as before the rebellion,
be maintained, subject only to the modifications made necessary by the
conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, not contravening
said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by those framing the
new State government.
To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this proclamation,
so far as it relates to State governments, has no reference to States wherein
loyal State governments have all the while been maintained. And for the
same reason, it may be proper to further say that whether members sent
to Congress from any State shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally
rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to any extent with
the Executive. And still further, that this proclamation is intended to
present the people of the States wherein the national authority has been
suspended, and loyal State governments have been subverted, a mode in and
by which the national authority and loyal State governments may be re-established
within said States, or in any of them; and, while the mode presented is
the best the Executive can suggest with his present impressions, it must
not be understood that no other possible mode would be acceptable.
Given under my hand at the city, of Washington, the 8th.
day of December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three,
and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State