On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared that
all slaves in areas of open rebellion were free. Although the
Emancipation Proclamation did not have any immediate
effect on the status of slaves in the Confederacy, after the Civil
War the United States abolished slavery with the ratification of
the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The end of
slavery had a dramatic impact on the economic structure of
the South. Individuals lost a large portion of their wealth as
slaves received their freedom with no compensation to the
prior owners. Consequently, the primary asset of the Southern
whites remained the land, which they rented out to former
slaves who became tenant farmers.
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
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 recognize 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 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 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-inChief, 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 war measure for
suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtythree, 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, Terrebonne, 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
Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York,
Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and
Portsmouth), and which excepted parts, are for the present,
left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
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 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-defence;
and I 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.
Emancipation Proclamation
(1863)
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.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty
three, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.