Letter to William H. Herndon
03/05/1864
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu...
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 I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense;
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considera...
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 S...