(_Issued January 1, 1863_)
Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by
virtue of the power vested in me as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy, in a time of actual armed rebellion against the authority of the
Government of the United States, as a fit and necessary war measure
for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and
in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the
full period of one hundred days from the date of the first
above-mentioned order, designate as the States and parts of States
therein the people whereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion
against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension,
Assumption, Terrebonne, La Fourche, St. Mary, St. Martin and Orleans,
including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the
forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the
counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York,
Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth), which excepted parts are for the present left precisely
as if this proclamation were not issued; and by virtue of the power
and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons
held as slaves within designated States, or parts of States, are, and
henceforward shall be free, and that the Executive Government of the
United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof,
will recognize and maintain the freedom of the said persons; and I
hereby enjoin upon the people so declared free to abstain from all
violence, unless in necessary self-defense; and I recommend to them
that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable
wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons, of
suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the
United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other
places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the
considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty
God.