Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7 [Nov. 5, 1863-Sept. 12, 1864].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7 [Nov. 5, 1863-Sept. 12, 1864].
Author: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication: New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press; 1953.
Rights/Permissions: The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln7
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 7 [Nov. 5, 1863-Sept. 12, 1864]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln7. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 21, 2025.

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To the Senate and House of Representatives1Jump to section

December 17, 1863

To the Senate, and House of Representatives

Herewith I lay before you a letter addressed to myself by a Committee of gentlemen representing the Freedman's Aid Societies in Boston, New-York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. The subject of the letter, as indicated above, is one of great magnitude, and importance, and one which these gentlemen, of known ability and high character, seem to have considered with great attention and care. Not having the time to form a mature judgment of my own, as to whether the plan they suggest is the best, I submit the whole

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subject to Congress deeming that their attention thereto is almost imperatively demanded. ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Dec. 17. 1863.

Annotation

[1] ADS, NNP; DS, DNA RG 46, Senate 38A F2. The letter of December 1, 1863, which Lincoln transmitted, signed by Stephen Colwell and others, proposed establishment of a ``Bureau of Emancipation'' to assist those freed by the Emancipation Proclamation (See Senate Executive Document No. 1). On December 8, Representative Thomas D. Eliot of Massachusetts introduced a bill to establish a Bureau of Emancipation, which was referred to a select committee on December 14, reported by Eliot on December 22, and sent back to the committee. No further action is recorded.

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