Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 7.
Frank Moore, Ed.

A Proclamation.

whereas, The Constitution of the United States has ordained that “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless, when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it;” and, whereas, a rebellion was existing on the third day of March, 1863, which rebellion is still existing ; and, whereas, by a statute which was approved on that day, it was enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, that during the present insurrection the President of the United States, whenever, in his judgment, the public safety may require, is authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in any case throughout the United States or any part thereof; and, whereas, in the judgment of the President the public safety does require that the privilege of the said writ shall now be suspended throughout the United States in cases where, by the authority of the President of the United States, military, naval, and civil officers of the United States, or any of them, hold persons under their command or in their custody, either as prisoners of war, spies or aiders or abettors of the enemy, or officers, soldiers, or seamen enrolled, drafted, or [506] mustered or enlisted in or belonging to the land or naval forces of the United States, or as deserters therefrom, or otherwise amenable to military law, or to the rules and articles of war, or the rules and regulations prescribed for the military or naval services by the authority of the President of the United States, or for resisting a draft, or for any other offence against the military or naval service; now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and make known to all whom it may concern, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended throughout the United States, in the several cases before mentioned, and that this suspension will continue throughout the duration of the said rebellion, or until this Proclamation shall, by a subsequent one, to be issued by the President of the United States, be modified and revoked. And I do hereby require all magistrates, attorneys, and other civil officers within the United States, and all officers and others in the military and naval services of the United States, to take distinct notice of this suspension and give it full effect, and all citizens of the United States to conduct and govern themselves accordingly, and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States, and the laws of Congress in such cases made and provided.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-eighth.

The Proclamation of the President, dated Washington, September fifteenth, 1863, suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in cases of persons belonging to the land and naval forces of the United States, and other persons therein described, will be held to apply to all Missouri militia called into active service under the orders of the department commander.

Hereafter martial law will be rigidly enforced throughout this department against all persons who shall in any manner encourage mutiny, insubordination, or disorderly conduct, or endeavor to create disaffection among troops, and against all persons who shall publish, or utter publicly, words calculated to excite insurrection or lawless acts among the people, or who shall publish falsehoods or misrepresentations of facts calculated to embarrass or weaken the military authorities, or in any manner to interfere with them in the discharge of their duties.

Any person guilty of either of the offences above mentioned shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of a military commission, and any newspaper which shall contain publications in violation of this order will be suppressed.

Special attention is called to paragraph two hundred and twenty, Revised Army Regulations, which will hereafter be strictly enforced.