Emancipation Proclamation
By the President of the United States of America:
Abraham Lincoln
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.
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General Order #3 (Read by General Gordon Granger, "19th of June",
Read by General Gordon Granger
"19th of June", 1865
Galveston, TX
General Order #3
"The people are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the
Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an
absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former
masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them,
become that between employer and hired labor. The freed are advised to remain
at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will
not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be
supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."
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