January 1, 1863
A Transcription
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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