Evaluated strictly through the U.S. Constitution (Articles I–VII) & Amendments from an Early Statesman's prism
WAR DEPARTMENT By direction of the President, Brevet Major-General E. R. S. Canby is hereby assigned to the command of the Fifth Military District, created by the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, and of the Military Department of Texas, consisting of the State of Texas. He will,...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE The following order has been received from the President, and by his direction is published to the Army: The following provisions from the Constitution and laws of the United States in relation to the election of a President and...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE 18. By direction of the President, Brevet Major-General L. H. Rousseau, brigadier-general, commanding Department of Louisiana, is hereby assigned to duty according to his brevet rank of major-general. This order to take effect w...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE The following orders from the War Department, which have been approved by the President, are published for the information and government of the Army and of all concerned: The commanding generals of the Second, Third, Fourth, an...
Andrew Johnson BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Whereas by an act of Congress entitled "An act to admit the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida to representation in Congress," passed the 25th day of June, 1868, it is ...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE By direction of the President, Brigadier and Brevet Major-General Irvin McDowell is assigned to the command of the Department of the East. The headquarters of the department will be transferred from Philadelphia to New York City...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE By direction of the President of the United States, the following orders are made: I. Brevet Major-General Irvin McDowell is relieved from the command of the Fourth Military District, and will report in person, without delay at ...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE I. The following order of the President has been received from the War Department: WASHINGTON, June 2, 1868. The President with deep regret announces to the people of the United States the decease, at Wheatland, Pa., on the 1st ...
Andrew Johnson Special Order. NAVY DEPARTMENT The death of ex-President James Buchanan is announced in the following order of the President of the United States: In pursuance of the foregoing order, it is hereby directed that thirty minute guns be fired at each of the navy-yards and naval stati...
Andrew Johnson Major-General John M. Schofield having been appointed, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Secretary for the Department of War, is hereby relieved from the command of the First Military District, created by the act of Congress passed March 2, 1867. Brevet Major-Gene...
Andrew Johnson The chairman of the committee of arrangements having requested that an opportunity may be given to those employed in the several Executive Departments of the Government to unite with their fellow-citizens in paying a fitting tribute to the memory of the brave men whose remains re...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE By direction of the President of the United States, Major-General W. S. Hancock is relieved from command of the Fifth Military District and assigned to command of the Military Division of the Atlantic, created by General Orders,...
Andrew Johnson Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Washington, D.C. SIR: By virtue of the power and authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States, you are hereby removed from office as Secretary for the Department of War, and your functions as such will terminate upon...
Andrew Johnson Brevet Major-General LORENZO THOMAS, Adjutant-General United States Army, Washington, D.C. SIR: The Hon. Edwin M. Stanton having been this day removed from office as Secretary for the Department of War, you are hereby authorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE The following orders are published for the information and guidance of all concerned: EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, D. C., February, 12, 1868. General U. S. GRANT. Commanding Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C. GENER...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE By direction of the President of the United States, the following orders are made: I. Brevet Major-General E. O. C. Ord will turn over the command of the Fourth Military District to Brevet Major-General A.C. Gillem, and proceed ...
Andrew Johnson BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EXECUTIVE ORDER It is desired and advised that all communications in writing intended for the executive department of this Government and relating to public business of whatever kind, including suggestions for legislation, claims, contracts, ...
Andrew Johnson Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., November 15, 1867. Sir: For the reasons mentioned in the accompanying copies of reports from the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, dated, respectively, the 7th and 13th instant, I h...
Andrew Johnson The heads of the several Executive Departments of the Government are instructed to furnish each person holding an appointment in their respective Departments with an official copy of the proclamation of the President bearing date the 3d instant, with directions strictly to observ...
Andrew Johnson Brevet Major-General Edward R. S. Canby is hereby assigned to the command of the Second Military District, created by the act of Congress of March 2, 1867, and of the Military Department of the South, embracing the States of North Carolina and South Carolina. He will, as soon as ...
Andrew Johnson General U. S. GRANT, Secretary of War ad interim. Sir: In consequence of the unfavorable condition of the health of Major-General George H. Thomas, as reported to you in Surgeon Hasson's dispatch of the 21st instant, my order dated August 17, 1867, is hereby modified so as to ass...
Andrew Johnson Major-General George H. Thomas is hereby assigned to the command of the Fifth Military District, created by the act of Congress passed on the 2d day of March, 1867. Major-General P. H. Sheridan is hereby assigned to the command of the Department of the Missouri. Major-General Win...
Andrew Johnson Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War . Sir: By virtue of the power and authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States, you are hereby suspended from office as Secretary of War, and will cease to exercise any and all functions pertaining t...
Andrew Johnson General Ulysses S. Grant, Washington, D.C . Sir: The Hon. Edwin M. Stanton having been this day suspended as Secretary of War, you are hereby authorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim , and will at once enter upon the discharge of the duties of the office. Th...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE Whereas several commanders of military districts created by the acts of Congress known as the reconstruction acts have expressed. doubts as to the proper construction thereof and in respect to some of their powers and duties under said ac...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE The President directs that the following change be made, at the request of Major-General Thomas, in the assignment announced in General Orders, No. 10, of March 11, 1867, of commanders of districts, under the act of Congress ent...
Andrew Johnson HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE II. In pursuance of the act of Congress entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States," the President directs the following assignments to be made: First District, State of Virginia, to be com...
Andrew Johnson Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. Sir: There is ground to apprehend danger of an insurrection in Baltimore against the constituted authorities of the State of Maryland on or about the day of the election soon to be held in that city, and that in such contingency the aid of...
Andrew Johnson Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. Sir: In the report of General Grant of the 27th ultimo, inclosed in your communication of that date, reference is made to the force at present stationed in the Military Department of Washington (which embraces the District of Columbia, the...
Andrew Johnson Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War . Sir: General Ulysses S. Grant having found it inconvenient to assume the duties specified in my letter to you of the 26th instant, you will please relieve him from the same and assign them in all respects to William T. Sherman, Lieutenant...
Andrew Johnson Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. SIR: Recent advices indicate an early evacuation of Mexico by the French expeditionary forces and that the time has arrived when our minister to Mexico should place himself in communication with that Republic. In furtherance of the objects...
Andrew Johnson EXECUTIVE MANSION, September 22, 1866. Let the tract of land as indicated on the within diagram be reserved from sale and set apart for Indian purposes, as recommended by the Secretary of the Interior in his letter of the 18th instant, said tract embracing portions of sections 2 ...
Andrew Johnson EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 20, 1866. Let the townships embraced within the lines shaded red on the within diagram be, in addition to those heretofore withdrawn from sale by my order of 27th February last, reserved from sale and set apart as an Indian reservation for the use of Sioux...
Andrew Johnson DEPARTMENT OF STATE The President directs the undersigned to perform the painful duty of announcing to the people of the United States that Lewis Cass, distinguished not more by faithful service in varied public trusts than by exalted patriotism at a recent period of political di...
Andrew Johnson ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE By direction of the President, you* are hereby instructed to cause the arrest of all prominent. leading, or conspicuous persons called "Fenians" who you may have probable cause to believe have been or may be guilty of violations of the neutrality laws of...
Andrew Johnson The President with profound sorrow announces to the people of the United States the death of Winfield Scott, the late Lieutenant-General of the Army. On the day which may be appointed for his funeral the several Executive Departments of the Government will be closed. The heads of...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE Whereas some military commanders are embarrassed by doubts as to the operation of the proclamation of the President dated the 2d day of April, 1866, upon trials by military courts-martial and military officers; to remove such doubts-- It ...
Andrew Johnson DEPARTMENT OF STATE On the 14th of April, 1865, great affliction was brought upon the American people by the assassination of the lamented Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States. The undersigned is therefore directed by the President to announce that in commemoratio...
Andrew Johnson It is eminently right and proper that the Government of the United States should give earnest and substantial evidence of its just appreciation of the services of the patriotic men who when the life of the nation was imperiled entered the Army and Navy to preserve the integrity o...
Andrew Johnson Niobrara Reserve. [In the Santee Agency; occupied by the Santee Sioux; established by act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat., 819), and treaty April 29, 1868, article 6, paragraph 4.] Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., February 26, 1866. Sir: I have the honor to submit herewit...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE Ordered, That-- I. All persons claiming reward for the apprehension of John Wilkes Booth, Lewis Payne, G. A. Atzerodt, and David E. Herold, and Jefferson Davis, or either of them, are notified to file their claims and their proofs with th...
Andrew Johnson Ordered, That the civil and military agents of the Government transfer to the assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands for Alabama the use and custody of all real estate, buildings, or other property, except cotton, seized or held by them in...
Andrew Johnson 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 ...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE Whereas certain tracts of land, situated on the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, at the time for the most part vacant, were set apart by Major-General W. T. Sherman's special field order No. 15 for the benefit of refugees an...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE It has been represented to the Department that commanders of military posts and districts in Georgia, and particularly Brevet Brigadier-General C. H. Grosvenor, provost-marshal-general, and Brevet Major-General King, commanding in the dis...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE To provide for the transportation required by the Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands-- It is ordered. That upon the requisition of the Commissioner or the assistant commissioners of the Bureau transportation be furnished su...
Andrew Johnson It is hereby ordered, That so much of the Executive order bearing date the 7th (2d) day of June, 1865, as made it the duty of all officers of the Treasury Department. military officers, and all others in the service of the United States to turn over to the authorized officers of ...
Andrew Johnson DEPARTMENT OF STATE 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 i...
Andrew Johnson An impression seems to prevail that the interests of persons having business with the executive government require that they should have personal interviews with the President or heads of Departments. As this impression is believed to be entirely unfounded, it is expected that ap...
Andrew Johnson IV. The Executive order dated July 5, 1865, approving the sentences in the cases of Samuel Arnold, Samuel A. Mudd, Edward Spangler, and Michael O'Laughlin, is hereby modified so as to direct that the said Arnold, Mudd, Spangler, and O'Laughlin be confined at hard labor in the mil...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE I. Before a military commission which convened at Washington, D.C., May 9, 1865, pursuant to paragraph 4 of Special Orders, No. 211, dated May 6, 1865, and paragraph 91 of Special Orders, No. 216, dated May 9, 1865, War Department. Adjuta...
Andrew Johnson The foregoing sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, George A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, Michael O'Laughlin, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Surratt, and Samuel A. Mudd are hereby approved, and it is ordered that the sentences in the cases of David E. Herold, G. A. Atzer...
Andrew Johnson It is represented to me in a communication from the Secretary of the interior that Indians in New Mexico have been seized and reduced into slavery, and it is recommended that the authority of the executive branch of the Government should be exercised for the effectual suppression...
Andrew Johnson CIRCULAR. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE By direction of the President, all persons belonging to the excepted classes enumerated in the President's amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865, who may make special applications to the President for pardon are hereby notified that before their...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE ORDER FOR THE DISCHARGE OF CERTAIN PRISONERS OF WAR. The prisoners of war at the several depots in the North will be discharged under the following regulations and restrictions: I. All enlisted men of the rebel army and petty officers and...
Andrew Johnson Whereas circumstances of recent occurrence have made it no longer necessary to continue the prohibition of the departure for her destination of the gunboat Fusyama , built at New York for the Japanese Government, it is consequently ordered that that prohibition be removed. The Se...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE Ordered , That all military restrictions upon trade in any of the States or Territories of the United States, except in articles contraband of war--to wit, arms, ammunition, gray cloth, and all articles from which ammunition is manufactur...
Andrew Johnson 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 abandoned lands and...
Andrew Johnson DEPARTMENT OF STATE Whereas, pursuant to the order of the President and as a means required by the public safety, directions were issued from this Department, under date of the 17th of December, 1864, requiring passports from all travelers entering the United States, except immig...
Andrew Johnson Tomorrow, the 1st of June, being the day appointed for special humiliation and prayer in consequence of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, the Executive Office and the various Departments will be closed during the day. ANDREW JOHNSON, Presi...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT Ordered , That in all cases of sentences by military tribunals of imprisonment during the war the sentence be remitted and that the prisoners be discharged. The Adjutant-General will issue immediately the necessary instructions to carry. this order into effect. By ...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE 91. Brevet Brigadier-General Cyrus B. Comstock, United States Volunteers, and Brevet Colonel Horace Porter, aid-de-camp, are hereby relieved from duty as members of the military commission appointed in Special Orders, No. 211, paragraph 4...
Andrew Johnson Ordered , first. That all acts and proceedings of the political, military, and civil organizations which have been in a state of insurrection and rebellion within the State of Virginia against the authority and laws of the United States, and of which Jefferson Davis, John Letcher...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT Brigadier-General Holt, Judge-Advocate-General, having designated the Hon. John A. Bingham as a special judge-advocate, whose aid he requires in the prosecution of Herold and others before the military commission of which Major-General Hunter is presiding officer: ...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE 4. A military commission is hereby appointed to meet at Washington, D.C., on Monday, the 8th day of May, 1865, at 9 o'clock a. m., or as soon thereafter as practicable, for the trial of David E. Herold, George A. Atzerodt, Lewis Payne, Mi...
Andrew Johnson This being the day of the funeral of the late President, Abraham Lincoln, at Springfield, Ill., the Executive Office and the various Departments will be closed at 12 m. to-day. ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States.
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT The Executive order of November 21, 1862, prohibiting the exportation of arms and ammunition from the United States, and the Executive order of May 13, 1863,* prohibiting the exportation of horses, mules, and live stock, being no longer required by public necessiti...
Andrew Johnson Whereas the Attorney-General of the United States hath given his opinion that the persons implicated in the murder of the late President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of the Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and in an alleged conspiracy to assassinat...
Andrew Johnson Being desirous to relieve all loyal citizens and well-disposed persons residing in insurrectionary States from unnecessary commercial restrictions and to encourage them to return to peaceful pursuits-- It is hereby ordered, I. That all restrictions upon internal, domestic, and co...
Andrew Johnson WAR DEPARTMENT The Executive order of January 20, 1865, prohibiting the exportation of hay, is rescinded from and after the 1st day of May, 1865. By order of the President: EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
Andrew Johnson