4149 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
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, Terre Bonne, 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-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.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, and caused
the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in
[ L. S.] the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States
the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.