immediately before the so-called
act of secession, and excluding all others, shall reestablish a State
government which shall be republican and in nowise contravening said oath,
such shall be recognized as the true government of the State, and
the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional
provision which declares that "the United States shall guarantee to every
State in this Union a republican form of government and shall protect each
of them against invasion, and, on application of the legislature, or the
EXECUTIVE (when the legislature can not be convened), against domestic
violence."

And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision
which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the freed
people of such State which shall recognize and declare their permanent
freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as
a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring,
landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National
EXECUTIVE.

And it is suggested as not improper that in constructing a loyal
State government in any State the name of the State, the boundary, the
subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws as before the
rebellion be maintained, subject only to the modifications made necessary
by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, not
contravening said co and which may be deemed expedient by those framing
the new State government.

To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this proclamation,
so far as it relates to State governments, has no reference to States
wherein loyal State governments have all the while been maintained. And
for the same reason it may be proper to further say that whether
members sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted to seats
constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and not to
any extent with the EXECUTIVE. And, still further, that this proclamation
is intended to present the people of the States wherein the national
authority has been suspended and loyal State governments have been
subverted a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal State
governments may be re-established within said States or in any of them;
and while the mode presented is the best the EXECUTIVE can suggest, with
his present impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible
mode would be acceptable.

G