Lincoln, Abraham | The abolition of slavery: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United States"

Lincoln, Abraham

Manuscript document signed on vellum (424 x 390 mm), the vellum sheet lightly ruled horizontally within a border of a double-rule in blue, headed in red "Duplicate" at top, text neatly engrossed in ink in a clerical hand, attesting signatures of John W. Forney, Secretary of the Senate, and Edward McPherson, Clerk of the House of Representatives; signatures, in five columns, of the 37 Senators, headed in red "In the Senate, April 8, 1864," followed by signatures, in five columns, of the 114 Representatives, headed in red "In the House of Representatives, January 31, 1865" [Washington, D.C., first week of February 1865 (Lincoln signs next to the clerical dateline, "Approved, February 1, 1865.")] All text clear and legible, Lincoln's signature particularly dark and bold; some minor, mostly marginal soiling and natural discoloration of the the vellum. String-matted, framed, and glazed to museum standards to to 768 x 649 mm.