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Sixth. That the Secretary of the Navy take possession of all-ublic property belonging to the Navy Department, within said geographical limits, and put in operation all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having application to the said State.

Seventh. That the Secretary of the Interior put in force the laws relating to the Interior Department, applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-
ninth day of May, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five, and of the Independence of the
United States the eighty-ninth.
ANDREW JOHNSON.

[L. S.]

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 1865, June 13—A like proclamation was issued, appointing WILLIAM L. SHARKEY, Provisional Governor of Mississippi. 1865, June 17-JAMES JOHNSON appointed Provisional Governor of Georgia. 1865, June 17-ANDREW J. HAMILTON appointed Provisional Governor of Texas.

1865, June 21-LEWIS E. PARSONS appointed Provisional Governor of Alabama.

1865, June 30-BENJAMIN F. PERRY appointed Provisional Governor of South Carolina.

1865, July 13-WILLIAM MARVIN appointed Provisional Governor of Florida.

Orders Respecting Freedmen.

otherwise for the benefit of refugees or freedmen,
or accruing from abandoned lands or property
set apart for their use, and will transfer to them
all official records connected with the adminis
tration of affairs which pertain to said Bureau.
ANDREW JOHNSON.

By order of the Secretary of War:
E. D. TOWNSEND, Ass't Adj't General.

CIRCULAR No. 15.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

BUREAU REFUGEES, FREEDMEN,

AND ABANDONED LANDS, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 12, 1865. I. Circular No. 13, of July 28, 1865, from this bureau, and all portions of circulars from this bureau conflicting with the provisions of this circular, are hereby rescinded.

II. This bureau has charge of such "tracts of land within the insurrectionary States as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise," and no such lands now in its possession shall be surrendered to any claimant except as hereinafter provided.

III. Abandoned lands are defined in section 2 of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1864, as lands, the lawful owner whereof shall be voluntarily absent therefrom, and engaged either in arms or otherwise in aiding or encouraging the rebellion."

IV. Land will not be regarded as confiscated until it has been condemned and sold by decree of the United States court for the district in which the property may be found, and the title thereto thus vested in the United States.

V. Upon its appearing satisfactorily to any assistant commissioner that any property under his control is not abandoned as above defined, and that the United States has acquired no title to it by confiscation, sale or otherwise, he will formally surrender it to the authorized claimant or claimants, promptly reporting his action to the Commissioner.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C., June 2, 1865. Whereas, By an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1865, there was established in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, and to which, in accordance with the said act of Congress, is committed the supervision and management of all abanVI. Assistant commissioners will prepare accudoned lands, and the control of all subjects relat-rate descriptions of all confiscated and abandoned ing to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, lands under their control, keeping a record thereor from any district of country within the terri- of themselves, and forwarding monthly to the tory embraced in the operations of the army, Commissioner copies of these descriptions in the under such rules and regulations as may be pre- manner prescribed in circular No. 10, of July scribed by the head of the bureau, and approved 11, 1865, from this bureau. by the President; and whereas, it appears that the management of abandoned lands, and subjects relating to refugees and freedmen, as aforesaid, have been, and still are, by orders based on military exigencies, or legislation based on previous statutes, partly in the hands of military officers disconnected with said bureau, and partly in charge of officers of the Treasury Department; it is therefore Ordered, That all officers of the Treasury Department, all military officers and others in the service of the United States, turn over to the authorized officers of said bureau all abandoned lands and property contemplated in said act of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, establishing the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, that may now be under or within their control. They will also turn over to such officers all funds collected by tax or

They will set apart so much of said lands as is necessary for the immediate use of loyal refugees and freedmen, being careful to select for this purpose those lands which most clearly fall under the control of this bureau, which selection must be submitted to the Commissioner for his approval.

The specific division of lands so set apart into lots, and the rental or sale thereof, according to section 4 of the law establishing the bureau, will be completed as soon as practicable, and reported to the Commissioner.

VII. Abandoned lands held by this_bureau may be restored to owners pardoned by the President, by the assistant commissioners, to whom applications for such restoration should be for; warded, so far as practicable, through the super intendents of the districts in which the lands are situated.

Each application must be accompanied by-
1st. Evidence of special pardon by the Presi-
ent, or a copy of the oath of amnesty pre-
ribed in the President's proclamation of May
9, 1865, when the applicant is not included in
y of the classes therein excepted from the
enefits of said oath.
2d. Proof of title.

Officers of the bureau through whom the ap-
lication passes will indorse thereon such facts
s may assist the assistant commissioner in his
ecision, stating especially the use made by the
reau of the land.

VIII. No land under cultivation by loyal
fugees or freedmen will be restored under this
rcular, until the crops now growing shall be
cured for the benefit of the cultivators, unless
all and just compensation be made for their
abor and its products, and for their expendi-
O. O. HOWARD,
Major General, Commissioner.
ANDREW JOHNSON,
President of the United States.

res.

Approved:

or the Return to Persons Pardoned, of their Property.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 16, 1865. Respectfully returned to the Commissioner f Bureau Refugees, Freedmen, &c. The records -f this office show that B. B. Leake was speially pardoned by the President on the 27th ltimo, and was thereby restored to all his rights f property, except as to slaves. Notwithstandng this, it is understood that the possession of is property is withheld from him. I have, herefore, to direct that General Fisk, assistant ommissioner at Nashville, Tennessee, be intructed by the Chief Commissioner of Bureau of Freedmen, &c., to relinquish possession of the roperty of Mr. Leake, held by him as assistant ommissioner, &c., and that the same be immeliately restored to the said Leake. The same ction will be had in all similar cases.* ANDREW JOHNSON,

To 0. O. HOWARD,

President United States.

Maj. General, Com'r Freedmen's Affairs. Respecting Commercial Intercourso, and the Suppression of the Rebellion in the State of Tennessee, June 13, 1865.

Whereas by my proclamation of the twentyinth of April, one thousand eight hundred ind sixty-five, all restrictions upon internal,

*Extract from letter of General Howard, April 23, 1866,

n reply to resolution of the House of Representatives of March 5, 1866:

"In complying with these definite instructions, the bueau has been compelled to part with the greater portion of he property once under its control. Except in the very ew cases where property has been actually sold under the ict of July 17, 1862, an I in that portion of South Carolina and Georgia embraced in the provisions of General Sher

nan's Field Order No. 15, its tenure of property has been too
Incertain to justi.y allotments to freedmen.

Property seized under act of July, 1862, and re-
stored by this bureau...
Abandoned property allotted to freedmen and re-
stored by this bureau..

Abandoned property not allotted to freedmen re-
stored by this bureau.........

Total...........

Acres.

domestic, and commercial intercourse, with certain exceptions therein specified and set forth, were removed "in such parts of the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and so much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi river, as shall be embraced within. the lines of national military occupation; **"

And whereas by my proclamation of the twenty-second of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, for reasons therein given, it was declared that certain ports of the United States which had been previously closed against foreign commerce, should, with certain specified exceptions be reopened to such commerce, on and after the first day of July next, subject to the laws of the United States, and in pursuance of such regulations as might be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury;

And whereas I am satisfactorily informed, that dangerous combinations against the laws of the United States no longer exist within the State of Tennessee; that the insurrection heretofore existing within said State has been suppressed; that within the boundaries thereof the authority of the United States is undisputed; and that such officers of the United States as have been duly commissioned are in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby declare that all restrictions upon internal, domestic, and coastwise intercourse and trade, and upon the removal of products of States heretofore declared in insurrection, reserving and excepting only those relating to contraband of war, as hereinafter recited, and also those which relate to the reservation of the rights of the United States to property purchased in the territory of an enemy, heretofore imposed in the territory of the United States east of the Mississippi river, are annulled, and I do hereby direct that they be forthwith removed; and that on and after the first day of July next all restriction upon foreign commerce with said ports, with the exception and reservation aforesaid, be likewise removed; and that the commerce of such States shall be conducted under the supervision of the regularly appointed officers of the customs provided by law; and such officers of the customs shall receive any captured and abandoned property that may be turned over to them, under the law, by the military or naval forces of the United States, and dispose of such property as shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The following articles contraband of war are excepted from the effect of this proclamation: arms, ammunition, all articles from which ammunition is made, and gray uniforms and cloth.

the insurrection, so far as it relates to, and And I hereby also proclaim and declare that within the State of Tennessee, and the inhabitants of the said State of Tennessee as re-organ15,452 ized and constituted under their recently adopted 14,652 constitution and re organization, and accepted by them, is suppressed, and therefore, also, that all the disabilities and disqualifications attach430,104" ing to said State and the inhabitants thereof

400,000

consequent upon any proclamations, issued by virtue of the fifth section of the act entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and for other purposes," approved the thirteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, are removed.

But nothing herein contained shall be considered or construed as in any wise changing or impairing any of the penalties and forfeitures for treason heretofore incurred under the laws of the United States, or any of the provisions, restrictions, or disabilities set forth in my proclamation, bearing date the twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive, or as impairing existing regulations for the suspension of the habeas corpus, and the exercise of military law in cases where it shall be necessary for the general public safety and welfare during the existing insurrection; nor shall this proclamation affect, or in any way impair, any laws heretofore passed by Congress, and duly approved by the President, or any proclamations or orders, issued by him, during the aforesaid insurrection, abolishing slavery, or in any way affecting the relations of slavery, whether of persons or of property; but on the contrary, all such laws and proclamations heretofore made or issued are expressly saved, and declared to be in full force and virtue.

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, this thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [SEAL.] sixty-five, and of the independence of the United States of America the eightyninth. By the President:

ANDREW JOHNSON.

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Whereas by my proclamations of the thirteenth and twenty-fourth of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, removing restric tions, in part, upon internal, domestic, and coastwise intercourse and trade with those States recently declared in insurrection, certain articles were excepted from the effect of said proclamations as contraband of war; and whereas the necessity for restricting trade in said articles has now, in a great measure, ceased: It is hereby ordered, that on and after the 1st day of September, 1865, all restrictions aforesaid be removed, so that the articles declared by the said proclamations to be contraband of war may be imported into and sold in said States, subject only to such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.

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 this twentyninth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. ANDREW JOHNSON.

[L.S.]

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. By the President:

Blockade Rescinded, June 23, 1865. Whereas by the proclamation of the President of the fifteenth and twenty-seventh of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, a blockade of certain ports of the United States was set on foot; but whereas the reasons for that measure have ceased to exist:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby declare and proclaim the blockade aforesaid to be rescinded as to all the ports aforesaid, including that of Galveston and other ports west of the Mississippi river, which ports will be open to foreign commerce on the first of July next, on the terms and conditions set forth in my proclamation of the twenty-second of May last. It is to be understood, however, that the blockade thus rescinded was an international measure for the purpose of protecting the sovereign rights of the United States. The greater or less subversion of civil authority in the region to which it applied, and the impracticability of at once restoring that in due efficiency, may, for a season, make it advisable to employ the army and navy of the United States towards carrying the laws into effect, wherever such employment may be

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WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

Passports for Paroled Prisoners. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, August 25, 1865. Paroled prisoners asking passports as citizens of the United States, and against whom no special charges may be pending, will be furnished with passports upon application therefor to the Department of State in the usual form. Such passports will, however, be issued upon the condition that the applicants do not return to the United States without leave of the President. Other persons implicated in the rebellion, who may wish to go abroad, will apply to the Department of State for passports, and the applications will be disposed of according to the merits of the several cases.

By the President of the United States.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Paroling certain State Prisoners. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, WASHINGTON, October 11, 1865. Whereas the following named persons, to wit: John A. Campbell, of Alabama; John H. Reagan, of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, of South Carolina; and Charles Clark, of Mississippi, lately

engaged in rebellion against the United States Government, who are now in close custody, have made their submission to the authority of the United States and applied to the President for pardon under his proclamation; and whereas, the authority of the Federal Government is sufficiently restored in the aforesaid States to admit of the enlargement of said persons from close custody, it is ordered that they be released on giving their respective paroles to appear at such time and place as the President may designate, to answer any charge that he may direct to be preferred against them; and also that they will respectively abide until further orders in the places herein designated, and not depart therefrom: John A. Campbell, in the State of Alabama; John H. Reagan, in the State of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, in the State of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, in the State of South Carolina; and Charles Clark, in the State of Missis

And whereas the reasons for that suspension may be regarded as having ceased in some of the States and Territories:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the suspension aforesaid, and all other proclamations and orders suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the States and Territories of the United States, are revoked and annulled excepting as to the States of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona.

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 first day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five,

sippi. And if the President should grant his [L. S.] and of the Independence of the United

pardon to any of said persons, such person's parole will be thereby discharged.

ANDREW JOHNSON,

States of America the ninetieth.
ANDREW JOHNSON.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

President. By the President: Martial Law Withdrawn from Kentucky, October 12, 1865.

Whereas by a proclamation of the fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfour, the President of the United States, when the civil war was flagrant, and when combinations were in progress in Kentucky for the purpose of inciting insurgent raids into that State, directed that the proclamation suspending the writ of habeas corpus should be made effectual in Kentucky, and that martial law should be established there and continue until said proclamation should be revoked or modified;

And whereas since then the danger of insurgent raids into Kentucky has substantially passed

away:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby declare that the said proclamation of the fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, shall be, and is hereby, modified in so far that martial law shall be no longer in force in Kentucky from and after the date hereof.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

L.. S.]

Done at the city of Washington this twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President:

W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State. Annulling the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus, December 1, 1865.

Whereas by the proclamation of the President of the United States of the fifteenth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixtythree, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was, in certain cases therein set forth, suspended Ehroughout the United States;

Announcing that the Rebellion has ended, April 2, 1866.

Whereas, by proclamations of the fifteenth and nineteenth of April, one thousand eight 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 sixteenth day of August, in the same year, in pursuance of an act of Congress approved July thirteenth, 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 Alleghany mountains, and to such other parts of that State and the other States before named, as might maintain a 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;

And whereas, by another proclamation of the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, issued in pursuance of an act of Congress approved June 7, in the same year, the insurrection was declared to be still existing in the States aforesaid, with the exception of certain specified counties in the State of Virginia;

And whereas, by another proclamation made on the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in pursuance of the act of Congress of July 13, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, the exceptions named in the

States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

"

A resolution submitting to the Legislature of the several States a proposition to amend th Constitution of the United States.

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre sentatives of the United States of America Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both House concurring,) That the following article be pro posed to the Legislatures of the several States a an amendment to the Constitution of the Unite States, which, when ratified by three fourth of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intent and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution namely: ARTICLE XIII.

"SEC. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con victed, shall exist within the United States, o any place subject to their jurisdiction.

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SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enfor this article by appropriate legislation."

And whereas it appears from official docu ments on file in this Department that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the Legislatures of the States of Illinois Rhode Island, Michigan, Maryland, New York West Virginia, Maine, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ver mont, Tennessee, Arkansas, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia-in all, twenty-seven States;

ART. 12. The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as VicePresident, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;-The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;— The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the And whereas the whole number of States in states, and a majority of all the states shall be the United States is thirty-six, and whereas the necessary to a choice. And if the House of Rep- before specially-named States, whose Legislatures resentatives shall not choose a President when-have ratified the said proposed amendment, conever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, stitute three-fourths of the whole number of before the fourth day of March next following, States in the United States: then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Mr. Seward's Certificate of the Anti-Slavery

Amendment, known as the 13th Amendment. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

To all to whom these presents may come, greeting: Know ye, that whereas the Congress of the United States on the 1st of February last passed a resolution which is in the words following, namely:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the second section of the act of Congress approved the twentieth of April, eighteen hundred and eighteen, entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States and for other purposes," do hereby certify that the amendment aforesaid has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this eighteenth

day of December, in the year of our Lord [SEAL] one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. [New Jersey, Oregon, California and Iowa ratified subsequently to the date of this certifi cate, as did Florida in the same form as South Carolina and Alabama.]

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