And whereas, the people of the several before-mentioned States have, in the manner aforesaid, given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity;

And whereas, it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that the people who have revolted, and who have overcome and subdued, must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends, or else they must be held by absolute military power, or devastated so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and to freedom;

And whereas, the Constitution of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States, and not as Territories, dependencies, province, or protectorates;

And whereas, such constituent States must necessarily be, and the Constitution and laws of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States, and not as Territories, dependencies, provinces, or protectorates;

And whereas, such constituent States must necessarily be, and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are made equals, and place upon a like footing as to political rights, immunities, dignity, and power with the several States with which they are united;

And whereas, the observance of political equality as a principle of right and justice is well calculated to encourage the people of the aforesaid States to be and become more and more constant and persevering in their renewed allegiance;

And whereas, standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus are, in time of peace, dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizens, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institution, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed, except in cases of actual necessity, for repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion;

And whereas, the policy of the Government of the United States, from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression, has been in conformity with the principles herein set forth and enumerated:

Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida is at an end, and is henceforth to be so regarded.

In teset my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this second day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and of the Independence of the United of America the ninetieth.

[SEAL.]

ANDREW JOHNSON.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State.

II.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, by proclamation of the fifteen and nineteenth of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, the President of the United States, in virtue of the power vested in him by the Constitution and the laws, declared that the laws of the United States were opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law;

And whereas, by another proclamation made on the sixteen day of August, in the same year, in pursuance of an act of Congress approved July thirteen, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, 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 the State of Virginia lying west of the Allegheny Mountains, and except also the inhabitants of such other parts of that State, and the other States before named, as might maintain loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution, or might be from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of insurgents) were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States;

64 R R-SERIES III, VOL V