_To the People of the United States_:
A terrible bereavement has befallen our people. The President of the
United States has been struck down; a crime not only against the Chief
Magistrate, but against every law-abiding and liberty-loving citizen.
President McKinley crowned a life of largest love for his fellow men, of
earnest endeavor for their welfare, by a death of Christian fortitude;
and both the way in which he lived his life and the way in which, in the
supreme hour of trial, he met his death will remain forever a precious
heritage of our people.
It is meet that we as a nation express our abiding love and reverence
for his life, our deep sorrow for his untimely death.
Now, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
of America, do appoint Thursday next, September 19, the day in which
the body of the dead President will be laid in its last earthly resting
place, as a day of mourning and prayer throughout the United States.
I earnestly recommend all the people to assemble on that day in their
respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to
the will of Almighty God, and to pay out of full hearts the homage of
love and reverence to the memory of the great and good President, whose
death has so sorely smitten the nation.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, the fourteenth day of September, A.D.
1901, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and
twenty-sixth.