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side with the rebellion in some effective form, even to the extent of forcible intervention, if the milder form did not prevail; that the rebellion is now sustained by this hope, which every proposition of foreign interference quickens anew, and that, without this life-giving support, it must soon yield to the just and paternal authority of the national government; that, considering these things, which are aggravated by the motive of the resistance thus encouraged, the United States regret that foreign powers have not frankly told the chiefs of the rebellion that the work in which they are engaged is hateful, and that a new government, such as they seek to found, with slavery as its acknowledged cornerstone, and with no other declared object of separate existence, is so far shocking to civilization and the moral sense of mankind that it must not expect welcome or recognition in the commonwealth of nations.

Resolved, That the United States, confident in the justice of their cause, which is the cause, also, of good government and of human rights everywhere among men; anxious for the speedy restoration of peace, which shall secure tranquillity at home and remove all occasion of complaint abroad; and awaiting with well-assured trust the final suppression of the rebellion, through which all these things, rescued from present danger, will be secured forever, and the republic, one and indivisible, triumphant over its enemies, will continue to stand an example to mankind, hereby announce, as their unalterable purpose, that the war will be vigorously prosecuted, according to the humane principles of Christian states, until the rebellion shall be overcome; and they reverently invoke upon their cause the blessings of Almighty God.

Resolved, That the President be requested to transmit a copy of these resolutions, through the Secretary of State, to the ministers of the United States in foreign countries, that the declaration and protest herein set forth may be communicated by them to the governments to which they are accredited.

No. 35. Proclamation of Amnesty

December 8, 1863

THE proclamation of December 8, 1863, offering amnesty on conditions, was issued under authority of the so-called Confiscation Act of July 17, 1862 [No. 24]. In his annual message of the same date, Lincoln urged the propriety of the proclamation, and expressed the opinion "that nothing is attempted beyond what is amply justified by the Constitution." A supplementary proclamation of March 26, 1864, explained that the previous proclamation did not apply to prisoners of war.

REFERENCES.

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- Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIII, Appendix, vii-ix. A circular to United States district attorneys is in McPherson, Rebellion, 148, 149. See also Cox, Three Decades, chap. 33; Johnston in Lalor's Cyclopædia, I, 89, 90, Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, IX, chap. 19; Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress, I, chap. 21; McCall, Thaddeus Stevens, chap. 13.

[THE proclamation begins with a statement of the constitutional right of the President to grant pardons, of the existence of rebellion in certain States, of the authorization of pardon by proclamation under the Confiscation Act, and of the previous issuance of proclamations "in regard to the liberation of slaves," and continues: ] and

Whereas, it is now desired by some persons 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: Therefore

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 wit:

"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 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, so 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 of 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 Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina,1 a number of persons, not less than one tenth in number of 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

1 The omission of Virginia is explained by the fact that Lincoln had already recognized the so-called Pierpont government.

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 reëstablish a state government which shall be republican, and in nowise 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 every state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the 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 recognize 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 reëstablished 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.

No. 36. Supplementary Enrolment Act

February 24, 1864

A BILL to amend the enrolment act of March 3, 1863 [No. 31], was introduced in the Senate, January 5, 1864, by Wilson of Massachusetts, and on the 18th passed with amendments, the vote being 30 to 10. With further amendments the bill passed the House, February 12, by a vote of 94 to 65. The Senate refused to accept the amendments of the House, and the bill received its final form from a conference committee. The discussions and proposed amendments related chiefly to the furnishing of substitutes, the penalty for resistance to the draft, and the enlistment of negroes.

REFERENCES.

Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIII, 6-11. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 38th Cong., 1st Sess., and the Cong. Globe.

An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act for enrolling and calling out the National Forces, and for other Purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three.

Be it enacted That the President of the United States shall be authorized, whenever he shall deem it necessary, during the present war, to call for such number of men for the military service of the United States as the public exigencies may require.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the quota of each ward of a city, town, township, precinct, or election district, or of a county, where the county is not divided into wards, towns, townships, precincts, or election districts, shall be, as nearly as possible, in proportion to the number of men resident therein liable

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