[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 27 (Monday, July 10, 2000)]
[Pages 1601-1603]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation--President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument

 July 7, 2000

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    Each year from 1862 through 1864, President Abraham Lincoln and his 
family left the White House to take up residence during the warm weather 
months at Anderson Cottage, a home in northwest Washington, D.C., on the 
grounds of a site then known as the Soldiers' Home. It is estimated that 
President Lincoln spent one quarter of his presidency at this home, 
riding out to it many evenings from late June until early November. The 
house and surrounding land are now part of the U.S. Soldiers' and 
Airmen's Home, a component of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, an 
independent establishment in the executive branch. This house and its 
grounds are objects of great historic significance and interest.
    It was here, in September of 1862, that President Lincoln completed 
the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation. His second floor bedroom 
and much of the rest of the house are configured as they were when he 
was in residence, and original mantels, woodwork, and windows are 
retained. A magnificent copper beech tree under which he read and 
relaxed is still growing at the site. It was also from this house that, 
in July of 1864, he traveled 2 miles north to view the battle of Fort 
Stevens, during which he actually came under fire as he stood beside the 
Union troops defending the capital. The house has been designated a 
National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.
    The land was purchased by the Federal Government through the 
Soldiers' Home Trust Fund in 1851 to establish a home for invalid and 
disabled soldiers of the U.S. Army, the first such attempt to provide 
for members of the regular army. The house was first used as a summer 
retreat by President Buchanan from 1857 to 1860, and continued to be 
used as such by several presidents, including President Hayes from 1877 
to 1880 and President Arthur from 1882 to 1884. It

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became known as Anderson Cottage in honor of Major Robert Anderson, the 
Union commanding officer at Fort Sumter at the outbreak of the Civil 
War.
    Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), 
authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public 
proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, 
and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated 
upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United 
States to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof 
parcels of lands, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to 
the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the 
objects to be protected.
    Whereas it appears that it would be in the public interest to 
reserve such lands as a national monument to be known as the President 
Lincoln and Soldiers' Home 
National Monument:
     Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton,  President of the United 
States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Act 
of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that there 
are hereby set apart and reserved as the President Lincoln and Soldiers' 
Home National Monument for the purpose of protecting the objects 
identified above, all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled 
by the United States within the boundaries of the area described on the 
map entitled ``President 
Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument'' attached to and forming a 
part of this proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land 
reserved consist of approximately 2.3 acres, which is the smallest area 
compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be 
protected.
    All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of 
this monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of 
entry, location, selection, sale, or leasing or other disposition under 
the public land or other Federal laws, including but not limited to 
withdrawal from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and 
from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal 
leasing.
    The monument historically has been a part of the U.S. Soldiers' and 
Airmen's Home, a facility administered by the Armed Forces Retirement 
Home, an independent establishment of the Executive Branch. The Armed 
Forces Retirement Home, through the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, 
shall manage the monument as an integral part of that surrounding 
facility and consistent with the purposes and provisions of this 
proclamation. In managing the monument, the Armed Forces Retirement Home 
shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior through the National 
Park Service.
    For the purpose of preserving, restoring, and enhancing the public's 
appreciation of the monument, the Armed Forces Retirement Home shall 
prepare, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior through the 
National Park Service, a management plan for this monument within 3 
years of this date. Further, to the extent authorized, the Armed Forces 
Retirement Home shall promulgate, in consultation with the Secretary of 
the Interior through the National Park Service, regulations for the 
proper care and management of the objects identified above.
    Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing 
withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national 
monument shall be the dominant reservation. Warning is hereby given to 
all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove 
any feature of this monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the 
lands thereof.
     In Witness Whereof,  I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day 
of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence 
of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
                                            William J. Clinton

 Note: At the time of publication, this proclamation had not been 
received by the Office of the Federal Register for assignment of a 
proclamation number.

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