Whereas by the proclamations of the President of the 19th and 27th of
April, 1861, a blockade of certain ports of the United States was set on
foot; but
Whereas the reasons for that measure have ceased to exist:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States, do hereby declare and proclaim the blockade aforesaid to
be rescinded as to all the ports aforesaid, including that of Galveston
and other ports west of the Mississippi River, which ports will be open
to foreign commerce on the 1st of July next on the terms and conditions
set forth in my proclamation of the 22d of May last.
It is to be understood, however, that the blockade thus rescinded was an
international measure for the purpose of protecting the sovereign rights
of the United States. The greater or less subversion of civil authority
in the region to which it applied and the impracticability of at once
restoring that in due efficiency may for a season make it advisable to
employ the Army and Navy of the United States toward carrying the laws
into effect wherever such employment may be necessary.
In testimony 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 23d day of June, A.D. 1865, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-ninth.