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


The  Proclamation.  127

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,  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  Berkeley,  Accomac,  Northampton,  Eliza-
beth City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Norfolk,  including  the
cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth),  and  which  excepted
parts  are  left  for  the  present  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation
were  not  issued.
And  by  virtue  of  the  power,  and  for  the  purpose  afore-
said, 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  Govern-
ment  of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval
authorities  thereof,  will  recognise  and  maintain  the  freedom
of  said  persons.
