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PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. Message of Presi- 

 dent LINCOLN on the Emancipation of Slaves 

 and Compensation to their owners. 



WASHINGTON, March 6, 1862. 

 Fellow Citizens of the Senate 



and House of Representatives : 

 I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your 

 honorable body which snail be, substantially, as follows : 

 Resolved, That the United States, in order to cooperate with 

 any State which may adopt gradual abolition of slavery, give 

 to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State, in its 

 discretion, to compensate it for the inconvenience, public 

 and private, produced by such change of system. 



If the proposition contained in the resolution does 

 not meet the approval of Congress and the country, 

 there is an end of it. But if it does command such ap- 

 proval I deem it of importance that the States and peo- 

 ple immediately interested should be at once distinctly 

 notified of the fact, so that they may begin to consider 

 whether to accept or reject it. 



The Federal Government would find its highest in- 

 terest in such a measure as one of the most important 

 means of self-preservation. The leaders of the existing 

 rebellion entertain the hope that this Government will 

 ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence 

 of some purt of the disaffected region, and that all the 

 Slave States north of such part will then say, " The 

 Union for which we have struggled being already gone, 

 we now choose to go with the Southern section. To 

 deprive them of this hope substantially ends the rebel- 

 lion ; and the initiation of emancipation deprives them 

 of it, and of all the States initiating it. 



The point is not that all the States tolerating slavery 

 would very soon, if at all, initiate emancipation, but 

 while the offer is equally made to all, the more North- 

 ern shall, by such initiation, make it certain to the 

 more Southern that in no event will the former ever 

 join the latter in their proposed Confederacy. I say 

 initiation, because, in my judgment, gradual and not 

 sudden emancipation is better for all. 



In the mere financial or pecuniary view, any mem- 

 ber of Congress, with the census or an abstract of the 

 Treasury report before him, can readily see for himself 

 how very soon the current expenditures of this war 

 would purchase, at a fair valuation, all the slaves in 

 any named State. 



Such a proposition on the part of the General Gov- 

 ernment sets up no claim of a right by the Federal au- 

 thority to interfere with slavery within State limits 

 referring as it does the absolute control of the subject, 

 in each case, to the State and the people immediately 

 interested. It is proposed as a matter of perfectly free 

 choice to them. 



In the annual Message, last December, I thought fit 

 to say " the Union must be preserved, and hence all 

 indispensable means must be employed." I said this 

 not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and 

 continues to be an indispensable means to this end. A 

 practical reacknowledgment of the national authority 

 would render the war unnecessary, and it would at 

 once cease. But resistance continues, and the war 

 must also continue ; and it is impossible to foresee all 

 the incidents which may attend, and all the ruin which 

 may follow it. Such as may seem indispensable, or 

 may obviously promise great efficiency toward ending 

 the struggle, must and will come. 



The proposition now made (though an offer only), 

 I hope it may be esteemed no offence to ask whether 

 the pecuniary consideration tendered would not be of 

 more value to the States and private persons concerned 

 than would the institution and property in it, in the 

 present aspect of affairs. While it is true that the 

 adoption of the proposed resolution would be merely 

 initiatory, and not within itself a practical measure, it 

 is recommended in the hope that it would lead to im- 

 portant practical results. 



In full view of my great responsibility to my God 

 and my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Con- 

 gress and the people to the subject. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



Proclamation of President LINCOLX counter- 

 manding the Emancipation order of General 

 David Hunter, in the Department of the 

 South : 



Whereas, There appears in the public prints what 

 purports to be a proclamation of Maj. Gen. Hunter, 

 in- the words and figures following : 



HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT or THE SOUTH, I 

 Hilton Head, 8. C-, May 9, 1862. j 

 General Order No. 11. 



The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, 

 comprising the Military Department of the South, having 

 deliberately declared themselves no longer under the United 

 States of America, and having taken up arms against tho 

 United States, itbecomes a military necessity to declare them 

 under martial law. 



This was accordingly done oil the 25th day of April, 1862. 

 Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether in- 

 compatible. The persons in these States Georgia, Florida, 

 and South Carolina heretofore held as slaves, are therefore 

 declared forever free. 

 [OFFICIAL.] * 



Signed, DAVID HUNTER, 



Major-General Commanding. 

 ED. "W. SMITH, Acting Assistant Adj't.-Gen. 



And, whereas, the same is producing some excite- 

 ment and misunderstanding, therefore I.Abraham Lin- 

 coln, President of the United States, proclaim and de- 

 clare that the Government of the United States had no 

 knowledge or belief of an intention on the part of Gen- 

 eral Hunter to issue such proclamation, nor has it yet 

 any authentic information that the document is gen- 

 uine; and, further, that neither General Hunter nor any 

 other commander or person has been authorized by the 

 Government of the United States to make proclamation 

 declaring the slaves of any State free, and that 1^ sup- 

 posed proclamation now 'in question, whether genuine 

 or false, is altogether void so far as respects such dec- 

 laration. I further make known that, whether it be 

 competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army 

 and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States, 

 free ; and whether at any time, or in any case, it shall 

 have become a necessity indispensable to the mainte- 

 nance of the Government to examine such supposed 

 power, are questions which, under my responsibility, 

 I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified 

 in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. 



These are totally different questions from those of 

 police regulations in armies in camps. 



On the 6th day of March last, by a special Message, 

 I recommended to Congress the adoption of a joint res- 

 olution, to be substantially as follows : 



Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with 

 any State which may adopt a gradual abolishment of slavery, 

 giving to such State earnest expression to compensate for its 

 inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change 

 of system. 



The resolution in the language above quoted was 

 adopted by large majorities in both branches of 

 Congress, and now stands an authentic, definite, and 

 solemn proposal of the Nation to the States and people 

 most interested in the subject matter. To the people 

 of these States now, I mostly appeal. I do not argue 

 I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves. 

 You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the 

 times. 



I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of 

 them, ranging, if it may be, far above partisan and 

 personal politics. 



This proposal makes common cause for a common 

 object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not 

 the Pharisee. The change it contemplates would come 

 gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking 

 anything. Will you not embrace it ? So much good 

 has not been done by one effort in all past time, as in 

 the Providence of God, it is now your high privilege to 

 do. May the vast future not have to lament that you 

 have neglected it. 



In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto 

 affixed. 



