Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 15.djvu/734

 702 APPENDIX. plore Him that the same Divine protection and. care whicn we have hitherto so undeservedly, and yet so constant y, enjoyed, may be continued to our country and our people throughout all their generations forever. In witness whereof'?; have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be a xe. Done at the city of Whshington, this twenty-sixth day of Qctober, in [sEAL.] the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- even, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-second. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President : Wu.L1Am H. S1·:wAm>, Secretary of Szaze. N o. 6. July 4, 1868. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A PROOLAMATION. Preamble. Wxxmnzas in the month of July, anno Domini 1861, in accepting the condition of civil war, which was brought about by insurrection and rebellion in several of the States which constitute the United States, the two Houses of Congress did solemnly declare that that war was not waged on the part of the Government in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for any purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of the States, but only to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States, and to preserve the Union with ull t me dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired, and that so soon asbthosle objects should be accomplished, the war on the part of the Governments on cease; Vol. xiii. p. And wlierezts the President of the United States has heretofore, in the spirit 187 741, Hg of that declaration, and with the view of securing for it ultimate and complete 1***% P· 699- effect, set forth several proclnmations, offering amnesty and pardon to persons who bud been or were concerned in the aforenamed rebellion, which proclamations, however, were attended with prudential reservations and exceptions, then deemed necessary and roper, and which proulamations were respectively issued on the eighth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty- three, on the twentyaixth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-fbur, on the twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and on the seventh day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixt -seven; And ghereas the said lamentable civil war has long since altogether ceased, with an acknowledgment by all the States of the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and of the Government thereunder, and there no longer exists any reasonable ground to a prehend a renewal of the said civil war, or any foreign interference, or any unlitwful resistance by any portion of the people of any of the States to the Constitution and laws of the United States; And whereas it is desirable to reduce the standing army, and to bring to a. speedy termination military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, abridgment of the freedom of speech and of the ress, and suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus, and of the right of trial ll>y jury, -· such encroachments upon our free institutions in time of peace being dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our republican form of Government, and exhaustive of the national resources; And whereas it is believed that amnesty and ardon will tend to secure a complete and universal establishment and prevalence of municipal law and order, in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, and to remove all appearances or presumptions of a retaliatory or vindietive policy on the part of the Government, attended by unnecessary disqualifications, pains, penalties, confiscntions, and disfranchisements, and, on the contrary, to promote and procnre. congplletecfraternal reconlcilintion among the whole people, with due submission the onstitution an nws: Full pardon Now, therefore, be it known that I, Ammmw Jonsson, President of d.e