Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are 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,
Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details, for this object, will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.
After analyzing the speaking characteristics of Abraham Lincoln in regards to his ability to twist and fabricate according to his perceived need, meanings, while on paper appearing to have not so directly stated, and applying this along with the politics espoused, especially in his Inauguration Speech of March 4, 1861, the following red text and italicized additions have been inserted to give the actual meaning and intention of this proclamation of April 15, 1861.
Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, (by the Secession of) the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations (called the Confederate States of America) too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of (Federal) judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the (Federal) Marshals by law,
Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power (I am assuming by my own invention of the meanings intended) in me (supposedly) vested by the Constitution, and the (tax) laws,* have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, (in order to invade the territory of said combination with an overwhelming military force) in order to suppress said combinations (by force), and to cause the laws (of the Union) to be duly executed. The details, for this object (of armed military aggression and conquest against that combination, the Confederate States of America), will be (ordered) immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.**
*Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and General Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States. . .” This Constitutional provision has been blatantly violated by the Northern Union at the expense of the South with tax laws the Northern controlled congress voted exclusively against the South. The violation of this Constitutional prohibition voided the contract of the Union were that even necessary for the secession of the Southern States.
**In his inaugural speech of April 29, 1861, President Jefferson Davis stated: “The declaration of war made against this Confederacy by Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, in his proclamation issued on the 15th day of the present month, rendered it necessary, in my judgment, that you [the Congress of the Confederate States of America] should convene at the earliest practicable moment to devise the measures necessary for the defense of the country.” . . .
“This is the lamentable and fundamental error [that the Federal Government was Sovereign over the subservient States] on which rests the policy that has culminated in his declaration of war against these Confederate States.”. . .
“Scarcely had the President of the United States received intelligence of the failure of the scheme which he had devised for the re-enforcement of Fort Sumter, when he issued the declaration of war against this Confederacy which has prompted me to convoke you.” . . .“The President of the United States called for an army of 75,000 men, whose first service was to be to capture our forts. It was a plain declaration of war which I was not at liberty to disregard because of my knowledge that under the Constitution of the United States the President was usurping a power granted exclusively to the Congress.”