Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1862-10-02
Proclamation by the President.
ALL SLAVES IN REBEL STATES TO BE FREE AFTER
JANUARY |, 1868.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 1862.
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the Unit
ed States of America, and Commander-in-
Chief of the army and navy thereof do here
by proclaim and declare that hereafter as here
tofore, the war will be prosecuted for the OBJ.
ject of practically restoring the constitutional
relation between the United States and the
people thereof in which States that relation is,
or may be, suspended or disturbed that it is
my purpose, upon the next meeting of Con-
gress, 20 again recommend the adoption of a
practical measure rendering pecunary aid to
the free acceptance or rejection of all 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
adopted or thereafter may voluntarily adopt
the immediate or gradual abolishment of sla-
very within their respective limits and that
the efforts to colonize persons of African de-
scent, with their consent, npon the continent
or elsewhere, with the previously obtained con-
sent of the governments existing there, will be
continued that on the first dag of January
IN tie year one h0usand eight hundred and
sirty-three, all persons held as sLaUes vithin any
State, or any designated part Of State, the
people aChereof shall then be IN rebellion against
tie United States, shall be then Mencforvard
and forerer 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 not 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
e Oh 81 l. ~ -
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 there
to at elections wherein a majority of the quail
flied voters of such States shall have partic-
pated, shall, in the absence Of strong counter.
vang testimony, be deemed conclusive evi-
dence that such State and the people thereof
have not been in rebellion against the United
States
That attention is hereby called to an act of
Congress, entitled An act to make an addi-
tional Article of War;" approved March 13,
1862, and which act is 10 the words and figure
following -
Be II enacted by the Senate, and Me House
of Representatives. of the United States of Amer.
ica IN Congress assembled, That hereafter the
following shall be promulgated as an addition
al article of war for the government of the
Army of the United States, and shall be
obeYed and observed rs such -
ARTICLE. All officers or persons in the mill,
tary or naval service of the United States are
prohibited from employing any of the forces
under their respective commands for the pur-
pose of returning fugitives from service or Ia
labor who may have escaped from any persons
to whom such service or labor is claimed to
be due, and any officer who shall be found
guilty by court martial of violating this ar
tice shall be dismissed, from the service.
SECTION 2.-And belt further enacted, That |
this act shall take effect from and after its
passage.
Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an
act eutitled "An Act to suppress insurrection,
to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and
confiscate property of rebels, and for other pur
approved July II, 1862, and which
sections are in the words and figure follow
ing -
SECTION 9.-And be ii further enacted, That
all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be
engaged in rebellion against the government
of the United States, or who shall in any way
give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from
such persons and 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
found on (or being within) any place occupied
by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the
forces of the United States, shall be deemed
captured of war, and shall be forever free of
their se7vitude, and not again held as slaves.
SECTION l0.-And be 1t further enacted,
That no slave escaping into any State, Terri
tory, or the District of Columbia, from any of
the States, shall be delivered up,or in any way
impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for
crime or some offence against the laws, unless
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 bis lawful owner, and has not been in arms
against the United States in the present re-
"s.