The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1862-09-30
EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES.
by the President Of
the United States. soa
BY the President of the United States Of America:
A PROCLAMATION.

A PROCLAMATION.
], Abraham Lincoln, President OF the Uni
ted States of America, and commanderin chic
Of the army and navy thereof hereby proclaim
and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the
war will be prosecuted for the object Of prac.
tically restoring the constitutional relations
between the United States and the people
thereof, in which States that relation is or may
be suspended or disturbed that il is my pur.
pose, upon the next meeting Of Congress, to
again recommend the adoption of q practical
measure, tenderinc recuniary aid to the free
acceptance OF fcjsetIon of' al the slave States,
so called, the people whereof may not then be
in rebellion against the United States, and
which States may then have voluntarily adop-
ted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt the
immediate or gradual adjustment Of slavery
within their respective limits, and that the Of
forts TO colonize persons of African descent,
with their consent, npon the continent or else
where, with the previously obtained consent
OF the governments existing there, will be
continued; that on the first day of January,
10 the year of our LORD one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-thrce, all persons held as
slaves within any State or any designated
part of State, the people whereof shall then
be in rebellion against the United States, shall
be thenceforward and forever free, and the
executive government Of the United States,
including the military and naval authority
thereof, will recognize and MAINTAIN the free
dom of such persons, and will do not act or
acts to repress such persons or any Of them
in any efforts they may make for actual free.
dom; 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
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 have not been in rebellion
against tho United States; that attention is
hereby called to an act Of Congress entitled
'fan act to make an additional article Of war;"
approved March 18th, 1862, and which act is
in the words and figures following:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives. of the United Sta,es IN Con.
gress assembled, That hereafter the following
shall be promulgated as an additional article Of
war for the government of the army Of the
United States aud shall be obeyed and obser-
we'd as such-''all officers or persons in the
military or naval service of the United States
are prohibited from employing any OF the for
ces under their respective commands for The
purpose of returning fugi,ivcs from service or
labor who may have escaped from any person
to whom such service or labor is claimed TO be
due, and any officer who shall bs found guilty
by court martial of violating this article,
shall be dismissed from the service"
SEC. 2. And be 1t further enacted, That
this act shall take effect from and after its
passage.
Also to the 9th and 10th sections Of an act
entitled "An act to suppress insurrcction, to
punish treason and rebellion, TO seize aud con
fscste the property of rebels and for other
purpsoses," approved July 17th, 1862, and
which sections are in these words and figures
following:
SEC. o. 1nd be 1t further enacted, That all
slaves of persons who shall hereafter be en-
gagged in rebellion against the government OF
the United States, or VINO shall in any way
give aid or comfort ithereto escaping from such
persons aud taking refuge within the lines Of
the army and all slaves captured from such
persons or deserted by them and coming un
der the control Of the government Of the Uni
ted States, and all slaves Of such persons bo-
ing within any place occupied by the rebel
forces and afterwards occupied by the forces
of the United States, shall be deemsd captur.
es of war, and shall be forver free of the ser.
vituas and not again held as slaves.
SEC. 10. And be IL further enacted, That
no slave escaping in any State, Territory or
the District of Columbia, from any Of the
States shall be delivered up or in any way
impeded or hindered of bis liberty except
for crime or some offense against the laws, un.
less the person claiming said fugitive shall
first make oath that the person to whom the
labor or service of such fugitive is alleged TO
be due is his lawful owner, and has not been
in arms against the United States in the pres.
ent rebellion, nor in any way given aid or
comfort thereto; and no person engaged in
the military or naval service Of the United
States shall, under any pretence whatever
assume to decide on the validity of the claim
of any person to the service Of labor of any
other person, or surrender up any such per-
son to the claimant, on pain of being dismiss
ed from the service.
And do hereby epjoin upon and order all
persons engsg d in the military and naval
service of the United States to observe, obey
and enforce within their respective spheres Of
service, the act and sections above recited.-
Aud the executive will in due time recon-
mend that all citizens Of the United States,
who shall have remained loyal thereto
throughout the rebellion, shall, upon the res.
toration of le constitutional relations between
the United States and their respective States
and people, ifthese relations shall have been
suspended or disturbed be compensated for all
losses by acts Of the United States, including
the loss Of slaves.
In witness whereof, I have hereuuto
IL 81 set my hand and caused the seal Of the
United States to be affixed.
Done at the city Of Washington, this, the
twenty second day Of September, in the year
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
tixty.two, and Of the independence Of the
United States the eighty-seventh.
(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President.