Emancipation, Reconstruction and Segregation: 1863-1899
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Illustrated bntadside including text of the
Emancipation ProclamaticnfThe Library of Congress
As a military measure the Emancipation Proclamation created
a moral tone that led to the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing
slavery in 1865.
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 States in lime of actual armed
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0Y VIR7 UE OFTHE POWER1** lrtE VCSTE|
rebellion against the authority and government of the United
States, and a: a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing
said rebellion, do. on this 1st day of January, A .D. 1865 . . .
order and declare that all persons held as slaves within rebellious
areas are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive
Government of the United Stales, 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 !
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."