LAD #20 Emancipation Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaimed on the first day of January 1863 that persons held as slaves in the states of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except a few territories), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia shall be free. He declared this by the power vested in him as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy in the time of actual armed rebelion and as a fit and necessary war measure for supressing said rebellion. He also proclaimed that the executive government of the US will recognize adn maintain the freedom of the freed slaves. He hopes that the people that were freed will abstain from any violence, unless it is necessary for self-defense. He also recommends that the freed slaves labor faithfully for reasonable wages. The freed slaves will be received intot he armed service of the United States to man vessels of all sorts in the service. He believes this is an act of justice warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity. He finishes by saying that he sets his hand to cause the seal of the United States to be affixed to the Proclamation.