On Friday, August 16, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation officially declaring that the Confederate States "are in a state of insurrection against the United States." Lincoln also declared "that all
commercial intercourse (between the North and South) should forthwith cease and desist."
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Whereas
on the 15th day of April, 1861, the President of the United States, in
view of an insurrection against the laws, Constitution, and Government
of the United States which had broken out within the States of South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas,
and in pursuance of the provisions of the act entitled "An act to
provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union,
suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, and to repeal the act now
in force for that purpose," approved February 28, 1795, did call forth
the militia to suppress said insurrection and to cause the laws of the
Union to be duly executed, and the insurgents have failed to disperse by
the time directed by the President; and
Whereas such insurrection
has since broken out, and yet exists, within the States of Virginia,
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas; and
Whereas the
insurgents in all the said States claim to act under the authority
thereof, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons
exercising the functions of government in such State or States or in the
part or parts thereof in which such combinations exist, nor has such
insurrection been suppressed by said States:
Now, therefore, I,
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in pursuance of an act
of Congress approved July 13, 1861, do hereby declare that the
inhabitants of the said 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 Alleghany Mountains and of such
other parts of that State and the other States hereinbefore named as may
maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution or may be
from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the United States
engaged in the dispersion of said insurgents) are 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 is unlawful, and will remain unlawful until such
insurrection shall cease or has been suppressed; 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 special 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 or conveying persons to or from said States,
with said exceptions, will be forfeited to the United States; and that
from and after fifteen days from the issuing of this proclamation all
ships and vessels belonging in whole or in part to any citizen or
inhabitant of any of said States, with said exceptions, found at sea or
in any port of the United States will be forfeited to the United States;
and I hereby enjoin upon all district attorneys, marshals, and officers
of the revenue and of the military and naval forces of the United
States to be vigilant in the execution of said act and in the
enforcement of the penalties and forfeitures imposed or declared by it,
leaving any party who may think himself aggrieved thereby to his
application to the Secretary of the Treasury for the remission of any
penalty or forfeiture, which the said Secretary is authorized by law to
grant if in his judgment the special circumstances of any case shall
require such remission.
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 16th day of August, A.D. 1861, and of
the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.
Also on this date, in New York, a United States Circuit Court grand jury brought in an interesting presentment, accusing several newspapers of treason and asking the court's advice:
To the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York:
The Grand Inquest of the United States of America for the Southern District of New York, beg leave to present the following facts to the Court, and ask its advice thereon:
There are certain newspapers within this district which are in the
frequent practice of encouraging the rebels now in arms against the Federal Government
by expressing sympathy and agreement with them, the duty of acceding to
their demands, and dissatisfaction with the employment of force to
overcome them. These papers are the New York daily and weekly Journal of Commerce, the daily and weekly News, the daily and weekly Day Book, the Freeman's Journal, all published in the city of New York, and the daily and weekly Eagle, published in the city of Brooklyn. The first-named of these has just published a list of newspapers in the Free States opposed to what it calls “the present unholy war”
--a war in defence of our country and its institutions, and our most
sacred rights, and carried on solely for the restoration of the
authority of the Government.
The Grand Jury are aware that free governments allow liberty of speech
and of the press to their utmost limit, but there is, nevertheless, a
limit. If a person in a fortress or an army were to preach to the soldiers
submission to the enemy, he would be treated as an offender. Would he be more culpable than the citizen who, in the midst of the most
formidable conspiracy and rebellion, tells the conspirators and rebels
that they are right, encourages them to persevere in resistance, and
condemns the effort of loyal citizens to overcome and punish them as an
“unholy war” ? If the utterance of such language in the streets or
through the press is not a crime, then there is a great defect in our
laws, or they were not made for such an emergency.
The conduct of these disloyal presses is, of course, condemned and abhorred by all loyal men; but the Grand Jury will be glad to learn from the Court that it is also subject to indictment and condign punishment.
All which is respectfully presented.
New York, August 16, 1861.
Charles Gould, Foreman.
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