ing Congress to convene in an extra session on
the 4th of July. The call was sent forth in the following form:

PROCLAMATION.

_By the President of the United States_.

WHEREAS, the laws of the United States have been for some time past
and now are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed in the
States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed
by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers
vested in the marshals by law; now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested
by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth,
and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the
Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order
to suppress said combinations and to cause the laws to be duly
executed.

The details of this object will be immediately communicated to the
State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal
citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the
honor, the integrity and existence of our National Union, and the
perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already
long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service
assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to
repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized
from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be
observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any
devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or
any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country;
and I hereby command the persons composing the combinations
aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective
abodes, within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an
extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me
vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. The
Senators and Representatives are, therefore, summoned to assemble
at their respective chambers, at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday,
the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and
determine such measures as, in