Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and
now are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Texas by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary
course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals
by law:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in
virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have
thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the
several States of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000, in order
to suppress said combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed.
The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the
State authorities through the War Department.
I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort
to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National
Union and the perpetuity of popular government and to redress wrongs
already long enough endured.
I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces
hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and
property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the
utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid,
to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with
property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the
country.
And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to
disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty
days from this date.
Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested
by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and
Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective
chambers at 12 o'clock noon on Thursday, the 4th day of July next, then
and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom,
the public safety and interest may seem to demand.
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, this 15th day of April, A.D. 1861, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.