Whereas by the Constitution of the United States the executive power is
vested in a President of the United States of America, who is bound by
solemn oath faithfully to execute the office of President and to the
best of his ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of
the United States, and is by the same instrument made Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States and is required to take care
that the laws be faithfully executed; and
Whereas by the same Constitution it is provided that the said
Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges
in every State shall be bound thereby; and
Whereas in and by the same Constitution the judicial power of the United
States is vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as
Congress may from time to time ordain and establish, and the aforesaid
judicial power is declared to extend to all cases in law and equity
arising under the Constitution, the laws of the United States, and the
treaties which shall be made under their authority; and
Whereas all officers, civil and military, are bound by oath that they
will support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign
and domestic, and will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and
Whereas all officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, in
accepting their commissions under the laws of Congress and the Rules and
Articles of War, incur an obligation to observe, obey, and follow such
directions as they shall from time to time receive from the President or
the General or other superior officers set over them according to the
rules and discipline of war; and
Whereas it is provided by law that whenever, by reason of unlawful
obstructions, combinations, or assemblages of persons or rebellion
against the authority of the Government of the United States, it shall
become impracticable, in the judgment of the President of the United
States, to enforce by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings the
laws of the United States within any State or Territory, the Executive
in that case is authorized and required to secure their faithful
execution by the employment of the land and naval forces; and
Whereas impediments and obstructions, serious in their character, have
recently been interposed in the States of North Carolina and South
Carolina, hindering and preventing for a time a proper enforcement there
of the laws of the United States and of the judgments and decrees of a
lawful court thereof, in disregard of the command of the President of
the United States; and
Whereas reasonable and well-founded apprehensions exist that such
ill-advised and unlawful proceedings may be again attempted there or
elsewhere:
Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do
hereby warn all persons against obstructing or hindering in any manner
whatsoever the faithful execution of the Constitution and the laws; and
I do solemnly enjoin and command all officers of the Government, civil
and military, to render due submission and obedience to said laws and to
the judgments and decrees of the courts of the United States, and to
give all the aid in their power necessary to the prompt enforcement and
execution of such laws, decrees, judgments, and processes.
And I do hereby enjoin upon the officers of the Army and Navy to assist
and sustain the courts and other civil authorities of the United States
in a faithful administration of the laws thereof and in the judgments,
decrees, mandates, and processes of the courts of the United States; and
I call upon all good and well-disposed citizens of the United States
to remember that upon the said Constitution and laws, and upon the
judgments, decrees, and processes of the courts made in accordance with
the same, depend the protection of the lives, liberty, property, and
happiness of the people. And I exhort them everywhere to testify their
devotion to their country, their pride in its prosperity and greatness,
and their determination to uphold its free institutions by a hearty
cooperation in the efforts of the Government to sustain the authority of
the law, to maintain the supremacy of the Federal Constitution, and to
preserve unimpaired the integrity of the National Union.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed to these presents and sign the same with my hand.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, the 3d day of September, in the year
1867.