Purpose: To prohibit the exportation of arms or munitions of war from the United States to Mexico
Date: January 7, 1924
(Original document available here)
Whereas, Section I of a Joint Resolution of Congress, entitled a “Joint Resolution To prohibit the exportation of arms or munitions of war from the United States to certain countries, and for other purposes,” approved January 31, 1922, provides as follows:
“That whenever the President finds that in any American country, or in any country in which the United States exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction, conditions of domestic violence exist, which are or may be promoted by the use of arms or munitions of war procured from the United States, and makes proclamation thereof, it shall be unlawful to export, except under such limitations and exceptions as the President prescribes, any arms or munitions of war from any place in the United States to such country until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress.”
And whereas, it is provided by Section II of the said Joint Resolution that “Whoever exports any arms or munitions of war in violation of section I shall on conviction be punished by fine not exceeding $10,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.”
Now, therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority conferred in me by the said Joint Resolution of Congress, do hereby declare and proclaim that I have found that there exist in Mexico such conditions of domestic violence which are or may be promoted by the use of arms or munitions of war procured from the United States as contemplated by the said Joint Resolution; and I do hereby admonish all citizens of the United States and every person to abstain from every violation of the provisions of the Joint Resolution above set forth, hereby made applicable to Mexico, and I do hereby warn them that all violations of such provisions will be rigorously prosecuted.
And I do hereby enjoin upon all officers of the United States, charged with the execution of the laws thereof, the utmost diligence in preventing violations of the said Joint Resolution and this my Proclamation issued thereunder, and in bringing to trial and punishment any offenders against the same.
And I do hereby prescribe as an exception and limitation to the foregoing restrictions such exportations of arms or munitions of war as are approved by the Government of the United States for shipment to the Government of Mexico which has been recognized by the Government of the United States, and such arms and munitions for industrial or commercial uses as may from time to time be exported with the consent of the Secretary of State.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
DONE at the City of Washington this seventh day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and forty-eighth.
Citation: The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from December, 1923 to March, 1925
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Frank Harder, who prepared this document for digital publication.