The Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation
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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The Emancipation Proclamation

By the President of the United States of America:

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN

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