A proclamation.
whereas, in pursuance of the act of Congress, approved July thirteenth, 1861, I did, by proclation, dated August sixteenth, 1861, declare that the inhabitants of the States of
Georgia,
South-Carolina,
Virginia,
North-Carolina,
Tennessee,
Alabama,
Louisiana,
Texas,
Arkansas,
Mississippi and
Florida (except the inhabitants of that part of
Virginia lying west of the
Alleghany Mountains, and of such other parts of that State, and the other States hereinbefore named, as might maintain a loyal adhesion to the
Union and the
Constitution, or might be from time to time occupied
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and controlled by forces of the
United States engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents) were in a state of insurrection against the
United States, and that all commercial intercourse between the same and the inhabitants thereof, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the citizens of other States and other parts of the
United States, was unlawful, and would remain unlawful until such insurrection should cease or be suppressed, and that all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise coming from any of said States, with the exceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the
United States, without the license and permission of the
President, through the
Secretary of the Treasury, or proceeding to any of said States, with the exceptions aforesaid, by land or water, together with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same to or from said States, with the exceptions aforesaid, would be forfeited to the
United States.
And whereas, experience has shown that the exceptions made in and by said proclamation embarrass the due enforcement of said act of July thirteenth, 1861, and the proper regulation of the commercial intercourse authorized by said act with the loyal citizens of said States ;
Now, therefore, I,
Abraham Lincoln,
President of the
United States, do hereby revoke the said exceptions, and declare that the inhabitants of the States of
Georgia,
South-Carolina,
North-Carolina,
Tennessee,
Alabama,
Louisiana,
Texas,
Arkansas,
Mississippi,
Florida, and
Virginia (except the forty-eight counties of
Virginia designated as
West-Virginia, and except, also, the ports of
New-Orleans,
Key West,
Port Royal, and
Beaufort, in North-Carolina,) are in a state of insurrection against the
United States, and that all commercial intercourse, not licensed and conducted as provided in said act, between the said States and the inhabitants thereof, with the exceptions aforesaid, and the citizens of other States and other parts of the
United States, is unlawful, and will remain unlawful until such insurrection shall cease or has been suppressed, and notice thereof has been duly given by proclamation; and all cotton, tobacco, and other products, and all other goods and chattels, wares and merchandise coming from any of said States, with the exceptions aforesaid, into other parts of the
United States, or proceeding to any of said States, with the exceptions aforesaid, without the license and permission of the
President, through the
Secretary of the Treasury, will, together with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same, be forfeited to the
United States.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of
Washington, this thirty-first day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the independence of the
United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the
President,
