Whereas in and by the Constitution of the United States it is provided
that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for
offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and
Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State governments of
several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons
have committed and are now guilty of treason against the United States;
and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been
enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property
and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated,
and also declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time
thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have
participated in the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof
pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such
conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare; and
Whereas the Congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon
accords with well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning
power; and
Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the United
States has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the
liberation of slaves; and
Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said
rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States and to
reinaugurate loyal State governments within and for their respective
States:
Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do
proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or
by implication, participated in the existing rebellion, except as
hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and
each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to
slaves and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have
intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and
subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath
inviolate, and which oath shall be registered for permanent preservation
and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit:
I, ---- ----, do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I
will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution
of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder; and that I
will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress
passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long
and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or by
decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will in like manner abide by
and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during
the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as
not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help
me God.
The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are
all who are or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents of
the so-called Confederate Government; all who have left judicial
stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who are or
shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate
Government above the rank of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the
navy; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the
rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the Army or Navy of the
United States and afterwards aided the rebellion; and all who have
engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in
charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which
persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers,
seamen, or in any other capacity.
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that whenever, in any
of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number
of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such
State at the Presidential election of the year A.D. 1860, each having
taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a
qualified voter by the election law of the State existing immediately
before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall
reestablish a State government which shall be republican and in nowise
contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government
of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the
constitutional provision which declares that "the United States shall
guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government
and shall protect each of them against invasion, and, on application of
the legislature, or the executive (when the legislature can not be
convened), against domestic violence."
And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision
which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the freed
people of such State which shall recognize and declare their permanent
freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as
a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring,
landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National
Executive.
And it is suggested as not improper that in constructing a loyal State
government in any State the name of the State, the boundary, the
subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws as before
the rebellion be maintained, subject only to the modifications made
necessary by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if
any, not contravening said conditions and which may be deemed expedient
by those framing the new State government.
To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this
proclamation, so far as it relates to State governments, has no
reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all the while
been maintained. And for the same reason it may be proper to further say
that whether members sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted
to seats constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective Houses,
and not to any extent with the Executive. And, still further, that this
proclamation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the
national authority has been suspended and loyal State governments have
been subverted a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal
State governments may be reestablished within said States or in any of
them; and while the mode presented is the best the Executive can
suggest, with his present impressions, it must not be understood that no
other possible mode would be acceptable.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the 8th day of December,
A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of America the
eighty-eighth.