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PRELIMINARY PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.

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the work of emancipation and colonization to the inhabitants in States not in rebellion. He then declared that on the first of January next ensuing, the slaves within every State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof should then be in rebellion, should be declared "thenceforward and forever free;" such freedom to be maintained by the whole force of the Government, which should not, at the same time, repress any efforts the slaves might make for their actual freedom. He also declared that any State in which rebellion had existed that should have in Congress at that time" representatives chosen in good faith, at a legal election, by the qualified voters of such State, should have the benefit of such conclusive evidence of its loyalty, and be exempted from the operations of the threatened proclamation. He called their attention to the acts of Congress approved March 13, 1862, and July 16, 1862, bearing upon the subject, as his warrant for the warning.

a Jan. 1, 1863.

It seemed as if this preliminary proclamation would indeed be as "inoperative as the Pope's bull against the Comet." It was made instrumental in "firing the Southern heart" and intensifying the rebellious feeling, for it was pointed to by the conspirators, and their followers and friends in all parts of the Republic, as positive evidence that the war was waged, not for the restoration of the Union, but for the destruction of slavery, and the plunder of the inhabitants of the slave-labor States. This was vehemently asserted, notwithstanding the clear and evidently sincere assurances of the President to the contrary-notwithstanding the document itself opened with the solemn declaration, "that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States, and the people thereof."

During the hundred days which intervened between the issuing of this proclamation and the first of January-this kindly, considerate, and warning proclamation, which gave to the conspirators and their associates in crime. ample time for reflection and calm decision-millions of hearts in both hemispheres were stirred with emotions of greatest anxiety. Philanthropists and lovers of righteousness, whose aspirations rose above the considerations of temporary expedients, and the vast multitude of the slaves, who were all deeply interested in the decision, trembled with a fear that the liberal terms of reconciliation might be accepted, and thereby the great act of justice be delayed. And when it was seen that the rebels were still more rebellious, and waged war upon the Government more vigorously and malignantly than ever, the question was upon every lip, Will the President be firm? He answered that question on the appointed day by issuing the following

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, On the 22d 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:

lication until after we had gained some substantial advantage in the field, as at that time we had met with many reverses, and it might be considered a cry of despair. He told me he thought the suggestion a wise one, and so held over the Proclamation until after the battle of Antietam."-Letter to William Lloyd Garrison, February 22, 1864.

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DEFINITIVE PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.

"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, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, 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 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-defense; 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 testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name, 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 [L. s.] our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

By the President.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

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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.

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