Selected Correspondance of Abraham Lincoln 1863 To Judge Hoffman
by Abraham Lincoln
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
December 15, 1863.
HON. OGDEN HOFFMAN, U. S. District Judge, San Francisco, Cal.:
The oath in the proclamation of December 8 is intended for those who
may voluntarily take it, and not for those who may be constrained to
take it in order to escape actual imprisonment or punishment. It is
intended that the latter class shall abide the granting or
withholding of the pardoning power in the ordinary way.
