778 



UNITED STATES. 



U 



UNITED STATES. The benefits of the am- 

 nesty proclamation issued by President Lincoln 

 on December 8th, 1863, were sought by a large 

 number of persons, originally from the South, 

 who were within the Federal lines, and against 

 whom suspicion of sympathy or secret coopera- 

 tion with the seceders existed. Others whose 

 property had been seized for confiscation, com- 

 plied with the terms of the proclamation in or- 

 der to save their property. Others, who were in 

 confinement, sought to obtain a release by u 

 simple compliance with its terms. Indeed, so 

 various were the cases which arose, that an 

 explanation or limitation of its terms was re- 

 quired. For this purpose the President, on 

 March 28th, issued the following procla- 

 mation : 



Whereas, It has become necessary to define the 

 cases in which insurgent enemies are entitled to 

 the benefits of the Proclamation of the President 

 of the United States, which was made on the eighth 

 day of December, 18G3, and the manner in which 

 they shall proceed to avail themselves of these 

 benefits : 



And whereas the objects of that Proclamation were 

 to suppress the insurrection and to restore the au- 

 thority of the United States ; and whereas the am- 

 nesty therein proposed by the President was offered 

 with reference to these objects alone : 



Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of 

 the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare 

 that the said Proclamation does not apply to the 

 cases of persons who, at the time when they seek to 

 obtain the benefits thereof by taking the oath there- 

 by prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confine- 

 ment or custody, or under bonds or on parole of the 

 civil, military, or naval authorities, or agents of the 

 United States as prisoners of war, or persons de- 

 tained for offences of any kind, either before or after 

 conviction ; and that, on the contrary, it does apply 

 only to those persons who, being yet at large and free 

 from any arrest, confinement, or duress, shall volun- 

 tarily come forward and take the said oath with the pur- 

 pose of restoring peace and establishing the national 

 authority. Prisoners excluded from the amnesty 

 offered in the said Proclamation may apply to the 

 President for clemency, like all other offenders, 

 smd their applications will receive due consider- 

 ation. - 



I do further declare and proclaim that the oath 

 prescribed in the aforesaid Proclamation of the 8th 

 of December, 1863, may be taken and subscribed be- 

 fore any commissioned officer, civil, military, or 

 naval, in the service of the United States, or any 

 civil or military officer of a State or Territory not in 

 insurrection, who by the laws thereof may be qual- 

 ified for administering oaths. All officers who re- 

 ceive such oaths are hereby authorized to give certi- 

 ficates thereon to the persons respectively by whom 

 they are made. And such officers are hereby re- 

 quired to transmit the original records of such oaths 

 at as early a day as may be convenient to the De- 

 partment of State, where they will be deposited and 

 remain in the archives of the Government. The 

 Secretary of State will keep a register thereof, and 

 will, on application, in proper cases, issue certificates 



[L. 8.] 



ot such records in the customary form of official cer- 

 tificates. 



In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my 

 hand, and caused the seal of the United 

 States to be affixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-sixth 

 day of March, in the year of our Lord one 

 thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and 

 of the Independence of the United States 

 the eighty-eighth. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

 By the President: 



'\VJLLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 



Some efforts were made to circulate the proc- 

 lamation within the enemy's lines, but it re- 

 ceived very little consideration there. In East 

 Tennessee, Gen. Foster attempted to circulate 

 it in the form of handbills among the troops 

 of Gen. Longstreet, with the hope of inducing 

 them to desert. The latter, in a letter to Gen. 

 Foster, said : 



The immediate object of this circulation seems to 

 be to induce our soldiers to quit our ranks and take 

 the oath of allegiance to the United States Govern- 

 ment. I presume, however, that the great object 

 and end in view is to hasten the day of peace. I re- 

 spectfully suggest for your consideration the propri- 

 ety of communicating any views that your Govern- 

 ment may have upon this subject through me, rather 

 than by handbills circulated amongst our soldiers. 



The "few men who may desert under the promise 

 held out in the proclamation cannot be men of charac- 

 ter or standing. If they desert their cause they dis- 

 grace themselves in the eyes of God and of man. 

 They can do your cause no good, nor can they injure 

 ours. 



As a great nation you can accept none but an hon- 

 orable peace. As a noble people you could have us 

 accept nothing less. 



I submit, therefore, whether the mode that I sug- 

 gest would not be more likely to lead to an honor- 

 able end than such a circulation of a partial promise 

 of pardon. 



Twenty copies were sent to Gen. Longstreet 

 by Gen. Foster, with acknowledgment of the 

 letter. 



The original proclamation excepted from its 

 benefits the State of Virginia. The number 

 of persons which it .required to inaugurate a 

 new State was one-tenth of the persons who 

 voted at the Presidential election in 1860, as 

 follows: 



Virginia had already been reconstructed 



