Issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, this
famous document, printed here in its entirety, granted freedom to more than 3
million United States slaves. Lincoln's decree was later made law by passage of
the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865.
The Emancipation Proclamation
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 again 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.
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