gets into history, it will be for this
act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the
proclamation, those who examine the document hereafter will say I
hesitated." Then, resting his arm a moment, he turned to the table, took
up the pen, and slowly and firmly wrote, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. He smiled as,
handing the paper to Mr. Seward, he said, "That will do." A few hours
after, he remarked: "The signature looks a little tremulous, for my hand
was tired; but my resolution was firm. I told them in September that if
they did not return to their allegiance I would strike at this pillar of
their strength. And now the promise shall be kept, and not one word of
it will I ever recall."

The text of the great Emancipation Proclamation is as follows:

Whereas, on the 22d 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 States 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.