23 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. printed newspaper in seven columns, headed "The President's Message." (Vertical crease, some very mild spotting.)

LINCOLN'S THIRD STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS.

President Lincoln delivered his third annual message on the State of the Union on 8 December 1863. In it, he outlined his "ten percent plan," which offered amnesty to Confederates who agreed to take an oath of allegiance to the United States and, upon reaching 10% of a state's population taking that oath, would allow that state to form a new state government. The address is further notable for Lincoln affirming that he would not retract or change any part of the Emancipation Proclamation and reiterating the great value of the newly-freed joining the ranks of the Union Army. He closes by stating that "Our chief care must still be directed to our army and navy, who have thus far borne their hardest part so nobly and well, and it may be esteemed fortunate, that in giving the greatest efficiency to their indispensable arms, we do also honorably encourage gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom more than to all others the world stands indebted for the home of freedom, disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated."