nise and maintain the freedom of said persons, and will do no act or acts to repress said persons or any of them, in any suitable efforts they may make for their actual freedom; and I hereby appeal to the people so declared to be free, to abstain from all disorder, tumult, and violence, unless in necessary self-defence, and in all cases, when allowed, to labour faithfully for 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 and defend forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

THE PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.

January 1, 1863.

WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing among other things the following, to wit:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves, within any State or designated part of a State, the people

whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward and forever, free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognise and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no 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 of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall be then 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 a 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, are not then in rebellion against the United States."

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 States, in time of actual armed

rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary warmeasure 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:

[Here follows the enumeration.]

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, 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 government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognise 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-defence; and I recommend to them that in all cases when allowed, they labour 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 favour of Almighty God.

FROM HIS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.

January 17, 1863.

"... While giving this approval, I think it my duty to express my sincere regret that it has been found necessary to authorise so large an additional issue of United States notes, when this circulation and that of the suspended banks together have become already so redundant as to increase prices beyond real values, thereby augmenting the cost of living to the injury of labour, and the cost of supplies to the injury of the whole country. It seems very plain that the continued issues of United States notes, without any check to the issues of suspended banks, and without adequate provision for the raising of money by

loans, and for funding the issues so as to keep them within due limits, must soon produce disastrous consequences; and this matter appears to me so important, that I feel bound to avail myself of this occasion to ask the special attention of Congress to it.

"That Congress has power to regulate the currency of the country can hardly admit of a doubt, and that a judicious measure to prevent the deterioration of this currency by a reasonable taxation of bank circulation, or otherwise, is needed, seems equally clear. Independently of this general consideration, it would be unjust to the people at large to exempt banks enjoying the special privilege of circulation from their just proportion of the public burdens.

"In order to raise money by way of loans most easily and cheaply, it is clearly necessary to give every possible support to the public credit. To that end, a uniform currency in which taxes, subscriptions to loans, and all other ordinary public dues, as well as all private, may be paid, is almost if not quite indispensable. Such a currency can be furnished by banking associations, organised under a general act of Congress, as suggested in my message at the beginning of the present session. The securing of this circulation