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December 8, 1863
By the President of the United States of America: A proclamation.
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 not guilt 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 states, 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 people 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; therefor,
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
with:
"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 the 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, as 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 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 tenth in number if the votes cast in such State at the
Presidential election of the year of our Lord one-thousand eight hundred and
sixty, 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 re-establish a State government which shall be republican, and in no
wise 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
guaranty to each State in this union a republican form of government, and
shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of
legislature, or the executive, (when the legislature cannot 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 be recognized 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
re-established 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.
Given under my hand at the city, of Washington, the 8th day of December, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
Order by the Commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi,
January 15, 1865
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