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 war measure 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:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard,
Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James,
Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, 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 Berkeley,
Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, 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-defense; 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.

And upon this act, sincerely believed