Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/31

* EMANCIPATION. 17 EMANCIPATION. Teutonic law never reec ionized a life-long au- thority of the head of the liou.se over his chil- dren; not only did the daughter pass out of the father's control by marriage, but the son became free from the fattier as soon as he set u]> a homo of his own. This mode of emancipation was described in the Middle Ages as 'Saxon emancipa- tion' (etnancijHitio Saxonica). In modern civil law the liberation of a person from paternal authority, as from the authority of a guardian, comes with the attainment of full age; and the term emancipation is applied to the case where a person receives some or all of the rights of full age before attaining full age. Thus the French law declares that sons as well as daughters are emancipated by marriage, and further provides for the emancipation of a minor with the consent of his parents at fifteen, and with the consent of the family council, if neither of his parents is living, at eighteen. This the" Romans would have called 'favor of age' {venia a-talis). Similar provisions are to be found in other European codes. The freeing of a slave was not termed at Ro- man law emancipation, but manumission. See Manumission; Family; Patria Potestas; Slavery. EMANCIPATION, Proclamation of. The document issued by Abraham Lincoln, as Com- mander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States, January 1, 1863, declaring the immediate freedom of the great majority of the slaves in the United States. For a long time President Lincoln had resisted the appeals of the radical Republicans for such a proclamation. He waited until he thought public opinion was ready for it, and until it might follow a victory and not seem the desperate measure of a defeated combatant. After McClellan's unsuccessful campaign against Richmond he felt that the emancipation of the slaves was a moral and a military necessity, for its effect upon both South and North. Antietam furnished the victory he awaited, and on Septem- ber 22, 1862, a preliminary proclamation was issued, decreeing the emancipation on January 1. 1863, of all slaves in the States which should till then continue in a state of rebellion. In this he also stated that thenceforth, as be- fore, the restoration of the LTnion should be the object of the prosecution of the war. The final proclamation, in view of its purposes and effects, must ever hold an important place in American history. By tiie President of the United States of America. a proclamation. Whereas, on the 22d of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred sixty- two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: "That on the 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred sixty- three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the executive Government of the LTnited States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and main- tain the freedom of such persons, and will do no' act or acts to repress such persons, or any of (hem, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. "That the Executive will, on the first day of January, aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the Stales and parts of Stales, if any, in which the people thereof respectively -hall then be in rebellion against tin' United States; and the fact thai any state, or the people thereof, shall on that da be in good faith represented in the Con- gress of the I nited Slates by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have partici- pated, shall, in the absence of strong counter- vailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States." Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States and as a fit and necessary war ineasure for repressing said rebel- lion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred sixty- three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of 100 davs from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of Saint Bernard, Plaquemines, Jeffer- son, Saint John, Saint Charles, Saint James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Saint Mary, Saint Martin, and Orleans, includ- ing the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Ala- bama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. And by virtue of the power and for the pur- pose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Govern- ment of the LTnited States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so de- clared to be free, to ahstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense : and I recom- mend to them that in all cases, when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be re- ceived into the armed service of the LTnited States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service. And upon this act. sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity. I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.