The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation,
by Abraham

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Abraham Lincoln
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Title: The Emancipation Proclamation
Author: Abraham Lincoln

Release Date: July 16, 2007 [eBook #22082]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION***
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION:
By the President of the United States of America:
A PROCLAMATION

Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was
issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other
things, the following, to wit:
"That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, 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 1st 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 States 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 supressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day
of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do,
publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the
first day 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,
Palquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
Assumption, Terrebone, 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 Berkeley, Accomac, Morthhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess
Anne, 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 case 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.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION***
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