GDG- thenceforward, and forever free;

[Dennis Lawrence]

The Emancipation Proclamation
January 1, 1863

A Transcription

By the President of the United States of America:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the 
President of the United States, containing, among other things, the 
following, to wit:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State 
or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in 
rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and 
forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including 
the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the 
freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such 
persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by 
proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which 
the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the 
United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on 
that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United 
States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the 
qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the 
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence 
that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against 
the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by 
virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and 
Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the 
authority and government of the United States, and 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 day first above 
mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein 
the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the 
United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, 
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, 
Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, 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 Ann, and Norfolk, 
including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and 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 said designated States, and 
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 said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from 
all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; 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.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.


http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/