Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

son shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony

of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in

open court.

(2) The Congress shall have power to declare the pun-

ishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work

corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of

the person attainted.

Art. IV.

Sec. 1. (1) Full faith and credit shall be given in each State

to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of

every other State. And the Congress may, by general laws,

prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and pro-

ceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

Sec. 2. (1) The citizens of each State shall be entitled

to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the sev-

eral States, and shall have the right of transit and sojourn

in any State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and

other property; and the right of property in said slaves shall

not be thereby impaired.

(2) A person charged in any State with treason, felony,

or other crime against the laws of such State, who shall flee

from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on

demand of the executive authority of the State from which

he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having

jurisdiction of the crime.

(3) No slave or other person held to service or labor in

any State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the

laws thereof, escaping or unlawfully carried into another,

shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be

discharged from such service or labor; but shall be deliv-

ered up on claim of the party to whom such slave belongs,

or to whom such service or labor may be due.

Sec. 3. (1) Other States may be admitted into this

Confederacy by a vote of two-thirds of the whole House of

Representatives, and two-thirds of the Senate, the Senate

voting by States; but no new State shall be formed or

erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor any

State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or

parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of

the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

(2) The Congress shall have power to dispose of and

make all needful rules and regulations concerning the

property of the Confederate States, including the lands

thereof.

(3) The Confederate States may acquire new territory;

and Congress shall have power to legislate and provide

governments for the inhabitants of all territory belonging

to the Confederate States, lying without the limits of the

several States, and may permit them, at such times, and in

such manner as it may by law provide, to form States to be

admitted into the Confederacy. In all such territory, the

institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confed-

erate States, shall be recognized and protected by

Congress and by the territorial government; and the inhab-

itants of the several Confederate States and Territories

shall have the right to take to such territory any slaves law-

fully held by them in any of the States or Territories of the

Confederate States.

(4) The Confederate States shall guarantee to every

State that now is or hereafter may become a member of

this Confederacy, a Republican form of Government, and

shall protect each of them against invasion; and on appli-

cation of the Legislature, (or of the Executive when the

Legislature is not in session,) against domestic violence.

Art. V.

Sec. 1. (1) Upon the demand of any three States, legally

assembled in their several Conventions, the Congress

shall summon a Convention of all the States, to take into

consideration such amendments to the Constitution as

the said States shall concur in suggesting at the time

when the said demand is made; and should any of the

proposed amendments to the Constitution be agreed on

by the said Convention—voting by States—and the same

be ratified by the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several

States, or by conventions in two-thirds thereof—as the

one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by

the general convention—they shall thenceforward form a

part of this Constitution. But no State shall, without its

consent, be deprived of its equal representation in the

Senate.

Art. VI.

1.—The Government established by this Constitution is

the successor of the Provisional Government of the Con-

federate States of America, and all the laws passed by the

latter shall continue in force until the same shall be

repealed or modified; and all the officers appointed by the

same shall remain in office until their successors are

appointed and qualified, or the offices abolished.

2. All debts contracted and engagements entered into

before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid

against the Confederate States under this Constitution as

under the Provisional Government.

3. This Constitution, and the laws of the Confederate

States, made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made,

or which shall be made, under the authority of the Con-

federate States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and

the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing

in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary

notwithstanding.

4. The Senators and Representatives before men-

tioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures,

862 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

and all executive and judicial offices, both of the Confed-

erate States and of the several States, shall be bound, by

oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no

religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any

office or public trust under the Confederate States.

5. The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain

rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others

retained by the people of the several States.

6. The powers not delegated to the Confederate States

by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are

reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people

thereof.

Art. VII.

1.—The ratification of the conventions of five States shall

be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution

between the States so ratifying the same.

2. When five States shall have ratified this Constitu-

tion in the manner before specified, the Congress, under

the provisional Constitution, shall prescribe the time for

holding the election of President and Vice-President, and

for the meeting of the electoral college, and for counting

the votes and inaugurating the President. They shall also

prescribe the time for holding the first election of mem-

bers of Congress under this Constitution, and the time for

assembling the same. Until the assembling of such

Congress, the Congress under the provisional Constitution

shall continue to exercise the legislative powers granted

them; not extending beyond the time limited by the Con-

stitution of the Provisional Government.

Adopted unanimously by the Congress of the Confed-

erate States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,

Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, sitting in convention at

the capitol, in the city of Montgomery, Ala., on the

eleventh day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and

sixty-one.

Source:

Henry Steele Commager, ed. Documents of American History.

New York: F.S. Crofts & Co., 1934.

T. J. “Stonewall” Jackson, First Battle of

Manassas (Bull Run), 1861

A description of the first battle of the Civil War by the Confed-

erate general Thomas J. Jackson. The Union had amassed

25,000 troops in Washington, D.C., and the population and

press goaded President Lincoln, against General Winfield

Scott’s recommendation, into confronting the Confederates.

They met near the stream Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia,

some 20 miles outside the capital. Union general Irvin

McDowell’s army was accompanied by the press, curiosity-

seekers from the public, and members of Congress expecting

to observe a great victory. Instead they witnessed the confu-

sion of undisciplined troops on both sides wearing similar uni-

forms. The 22,000 Confederates under General P. G. T.

Beauregard won the day with a reinforcement of an additional

9,000 troops and the stand of General Jackson that earned him

the sobriquet “Stonewall.” The defeated Union troops fled into

Washington, but Beauregard, with his troops still disorganized,

chose not to pursue them. After this battle, both sides knew

that they were in for a long war.

________________________

_______________________

HEADQUARTERS FIRST BRIGADE

Camp near Manassas, Va.

July 23, 1861

MAJOR: have the honor to submit the following report of

the operations of my brigade on the 21st:

About 4 in the morning I received notice from Gen.

Longstreet that he needed a re-enforcement of two regi-

ments, which were accordingly ordered.

Subsequently I received an order from Gen. Beaure-

gard to move to the support of Gen. Bonham, afterwards

to support Gen. Cocke, and finally to take such position as

would enable me to re-enforce either, as circumstances

might require.

Whilst in the position last indicated I received a

request from Gen. Cocke to guard the stone bridge, and

immediately moved forward to effect the object in view.

Subsequently ascertaining that Gen. Bee, who was on

the left of our line, was hard pressed, I marched to his

assistance, notifying him at the same time that I was

advancing to his support; but, before arriving within can-

non range of the enemy, I met Gen. Bee’s forces falling

back. I continued to advance with the understanding that

he would form in my rear. His battery, under its dauntless

commander, Capt. Imboden, reversed and advanced with

my brigade.

The first favorable position for meeting the enemy was

at the next summit, where at 11.30 a.m., I posted Capt.

Imboden’s battery and two pieces of Capt. Stanard’s, so as

to play upon the advancing foe. The Fourth Regiment,

commanded by Col. James F. Preston, and the Twenty-

seventh Regiment, commanded by Lieut. Col. John F.

Preston, and the Twenty-seventh Regiment, commanded

by Lieut. Col. John Echols, were posted in rear of the bat-

teries; the Fifth Regiment, commanded by Col. Kenton

Harper, was posted on the right of the batteries; the Sec-

ond Regiment, commanded by Col. James W. Allen, on the

left, and the Thirty-third commanded by Col. A. C. Cum-

mings, on his left. I also ordered forward the other two

The Civil War Years 863

pieces of Capt. Stanard’s and all those of Col. Pendleton’s

battery. They, as well as the battery under Lieut. Pelham,

came into action on the same line as the others; and nobly

did the artillery maintain for hours against the enemy’s

advancing thousands. Great praise is due to Col. Pendle-

ton and the other officers and men.

Apprehensive lest my flanks should be turned, I sent

an order to Cols. Stuart and Radford, of the cavalry, to

secure them. Col. Stuart and that part of his command

with him deserve great praise for the promptness with

which they moved to my left and secured the flank by

timely charging the enemy and driving him back.

Gen. Bee, with his rallied troops, soon marched to my

support; and as re-enforcements continued to arrive Gen.

Beauregard posted them so as to strengthen the flanks of

my brigade. The enemy not being able to force our lines by

a direct fire of artillery, inclined part of his batteries to the

right, so as to obtain an oblique fire; but in doing so

exposed his pieces to a more destructive fire from our

artillery, and one of his batteries was thrown so near to Col.

Cummings that it fell into his hands in consequence of his

having made a gallant charge on it with his regiment; but

owing to a destructive small-arm fire from the enemy he

was forced to abandon it.

At 3.30 p.m. the advance of the enemy having reached

a position which called for the use of the bayonet, I gave

the command for the charge of the more than brave

Fourth and Twenty-seventh, and, under commanders

worth of such regiments, they, in the order in which they

were posted, rushed forward obliquely to the left of our

batteries, and through the blessing of God, who gave us

the victory, pierced the enemy’s center, and by co-operat-

ing with the victorious Fifth and other forces soon placed

the field essentially in our possession.

About the time that Col. Preston passed our artillery

the heroic Lieut.-Col. Lackland, of the Second Regiment,

followed by the highly meritorious right of the Second,

took possession of and endeavored to remove from the

field the battery which Col. Cummings had previously

been forced to abandon; but after removing one of the

pieces some distance was also forced by the enemy’s fire to

abandon it.

The brigade, in connection with other troops, took

seven field pieces in addition to the battery captured by

Col. Cummings. The enemy, though repulsed in the cen-

ter, succeeded in turning our flanks. But their batteries

having been disabled by our fire, and also abandoned by

reason of the infantry charges, the victory was soon com-

pleted by the fire of small-arms and occasional shots from

a part of our artillery, which I posted on the next crest in

rear.

By direction of Gen. Johnston I assumed the com-

mand of all the remaining artillery and infantry of the

Army near the Lewis house, to act as circumstances might

require. Part of this artillery fired on the retreating enemy.

The colors of the First Michigan Regiment and an artillery

flag were captured-the first by the Twenty-seventh Regi-

ment and the other by the Fourth.

Lieut. Col. F. B. Jones, acting assistant adjutant-gen-

eral; Lieut. T. G. Lee, aide-de-camp, and Lieut. A. A.

Pendleton, brigade ordnance officer, and Capt. Thomas

Marshall, volunteer aide, rendered valuable service.

Cadets J. W. Thompson and N. W. Lee, also volunteer

aides, merit special praise. Dr. Hunter H. McGuire has

proved himself to be eminently qualified for his posi-

tion–that of medical director of the brigade. Capt. Thomas

L. Preston, though not of my command, rendered valuable

service during the action.

It is with pain that I have to report as killed 11 officers,

14 non-commissioned officers, and 86 privates; wounded,

22 officers, 27 non-commissioned officers, and 319 pri-

vates; and missing, 1 officer and 4 privates.

I respectfully call attention to the accompanying re-

ports of the commanders of the regiments and battery

composing this brigade.

Your most obedient servant,

T.J. JACKSON,

Brig.-Gen., Provisional Army,

Confederate States

Source:

Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil

War. Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Vir-

ginia. Available on-line. URL: http://valley.vcdh.Virginia.

edu/OR/augustaor.html. Accessed December 2003.

Jefferson Davis, Message to the Congress

of the Confederate States, 1861

Then provisional president Jefferson Davis delivered this mes-

sage to the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia, on

November 18, 1861. Surveying the war, Davis extolled the

Rebel victories and the spirit of the people. He discussed the

building of financial and transportation infrastructures and

asked for patience. Describing the Union army’s tactics in

scathing terms, Davis called Lincoln a “despot,” and pro-

claimed that “the separation is final.”

Davis was elected president under the Confederate con-

stitution, and his formal inauguration took place February 22,

1862, in Montgomery, Alabama, the Confederacy’s first capi-

tal. In his second inaugural address, he equated the South’s

struggle with the Patriots’ heroic fight in the American Revolu-

tion for liberty and government by the people’s consent. The

864 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

North’s determination to violate the Southern states’ sovereign

rights by striking at slavery, he asserted, had virtually forced

those states to withdraw from the Union and join the Confed-

eracy to preserve their liberty. Davis charged the North with

barbaric prosecution of the war, praised the Southern people

for the great sacrifices they were enduring in service of the

South’s cause, and claimed that preservation of civil liberties

in the South proved the Confederacy’s sincerity of purpose.

________________________

_______________________

The few weeks which have elapsed since your adjourn-

ment have brought us so near the close of the year that we

are now able to sum up its general results. The retrospect

is such as should fill the hearts of our people with grati-

tude to Providence for His kind interposition in their

behalf. Abundant yields have rewarded the labor of the

agriculturist, whilst the manufacturing industry of the

Confederate States was never so prosperous as now. The

necessities of the times have called into existence new

branches of manufactures, and given a fresh impulse to

the activity of those heretofore in operation. The means of

the Confederate States for manufacturing the necessaries

and comforts of life within themselves increase as the con-

flict continues, and we are gradually becoming indepen-

dent of the rest of the world for the supply of such military

stores and munitions as are indispensable for war. The

operations of the army soon to the partially interrupted by

the approaching winter have afforded a protection to the

country, and shed a luster upon its arms through the try-

ing vicissitudes of more than one arduous campaign,

which entitle our brave volunteers to our praise and our

gratitude.

From its commencement up to the present period,

the war has been enlarging its proportions and expanding

its boundaries, so as to include new fields. The conflict

now extends from the shores of the Chesapeake to the

confines of Missouri and Arizona; yet, sudden calls from

the remotest points for military aid have been met with

promptness enough not only to avert disaster in face of

superior numbers, but, also, to roll back the tide of inva-

sion from the border.

When the war commenced, the enemy were pos-

sessed of certain strategic points and strong places within

the Confederate States. They greatly exceeded in num-

bers, in available resources, and in the supplies necessary

for war. Military establishments had been long organized,

and were complete; the navy, and for the most part, the

army, once common to both, were in their possession. To

meet all this, we had to create not only an army in the face

of war itself, but also the military establishments necessary

to equip and place it in the field. It ought indeed to be a

subject of gratulation that the spirit of the volunteers and

the patriotism of the people have enabled us, under Prov-

idence, to grapple successfully with these difficulties. A

succession of glorious victories at Bethel, Bull Run, Man-

assas, Springfield, Lexington, Leesburg, and Belmont, has

checked the wicked invasion which greed of gain and the

unhallowed lust of power brought upon our soil, and has

proved that numbers cease to avail when directed against

a people fighting for the sacred right of Self-Government

and the privileges of freemen. After more than seven

months of war, the enemy have not only failed to extend

their occupancy of our soil, but new States and Territories

have been added to our Confederacy, while instead of

their threatened march of unchecked conquest, they have

been driven to assume the defensive; and upon a fair

comparison between the two belligerents as to men, mili-

tary means, and financial condition, the Confederate

States are relatively much stronger now than when the

struggle commenced.

Since your adjournment the people of Missouri have

conducted the war in the face of almost unparalleled diffi-

culties, with a spirit and success alike worthy of themselves

and of the great cause in which they are struggling. Since

that time Kentucky, too, has become the theater of active

hostilities. The federal forces have not only refused to

acknowledge her right to be neutral, and have insisted

upon making her a party to the war, but have invaded her

for the purpose of attacking the Confederate States. Out-

rages of the most despotic character have been perpe-

trated upon her people; some of her most eminent citizens

have been seized and borne away to languish in foreign

prisons without knowing who were their accusers, or the

specific charges made against them, while others have

been forced to abandon their homes, families, and prop-

erty, and seek a refuge in distant lands.

Finding that the Confederate States were about to be

invaded through Kentucky, and that her people after being

deceived into a mistaken security, were unarmed, and in

danger of being subjugated by the Federal forces, our

armies were marched into that State to repel the enemy

and prevent their occupation of certain strategic points

which would have given them great advantages in the con-

test—a step which was justified, not only by the necessities

of self-defense on the part of the Confederate States, but,

also, by a desire to aid the people of Kentucky. It was never

intended by the Confederate Government to conquer or

coerce the people of that State; but, on the contrary, it was

declared by our Generals that they would withdraw their

troops if the Federal Government would do likewise.

Proclamation was also made of the desire to respect the

neutrality of Kentucky, and the intention to abide by the

wishes of her people as soon as they were free to express

their opinions. These declarations were approved by me,

and I should regard it as one of the best effects of the

march of our troops into Kentucky if it should end in giv-

The Civil War Years 865

ing to her people liberty of choice and a free opportunity

to decide their own destiny according to their own will.

The army has been chiefly instrumental in prosecuting

the great contest in which we are engaged; but the Navy

has also been effective in full proportion to its means. The

naval officers deprived to a great extent of an opportunity

to make their professional skill available at sea have served

with commendable zeal and gallantry on shore and upon

inland waters, further detail of which will be found in the

reports of the Secretaries of the Navy and War.

In the transportation of the mails many difficulties

have arisen which will be found fully developed in the

report of the Post Master General. The absorption of the

ordinary means of transportation for the movement of

troops and military supplies, the insufficiency of the rolling

stock of rail-roads for the accumulation of business result-

ing both from military operations; and the obstruction of

water communication by the presence of the enemy’s fleet,

the failure and even refusal of contractors to comply with

the terms of their agreements, the difficulties inherent in

inaugurating so vast and complicated a system as that

which requires postal facilities for every town and village in

a territory so extended as ours, have all combined to

impede the best directed efforts of the Post Master Gen-

eral, whose zeal, industry and ability have been taxed to

the utmost extent. Some of these difficulties can only be

overcome by time and an improved condition of the coun-

try upon the restoration of peace, but others may be reme-

died by legislation, and your attention is invited to the

recommendations contained in the report of the Head of

that Department.

The condition of the Treasury will doubtless be a sub-

ject of anxious inquiry on your part. I am happy to say that

the financial system already adopted has worked well so

far, and promises good results for the future. To the extent

that Treasury notes may be issued the Government is

enabled to borrow money without interest and thus facili-

tate the conduct of the war. This extent is measured by the

portion of the field of circulation which these notes can be

made to occupy. The proportion of the field thus occupied

depends again upon the amount of the debts for which

they are receivable; and when dues not only to the Con-

federate and State Governments, but also to corporations

and individuals, are payable in this medium, a large

amount of it may be circulated at par. There is every rea-

son to believe that the Confederate Treasury note is fast

becoming such a medium. The provision that these notes

shall be convertible into Confederate Stock bearing eight

per cent interest at the pleasure of the holder ensures

them against a depreciation below the value of that stock,

and no considerable fall in that value need be feared so

long as the interest shall be punctually paid. The punctual

payment of this interest has been secured by the act passed

by you at the last session, imposing such a rate of taxation

as must provide sufficient means for that purpose. For the

successful prosecution of this war it is indispensable that

the means of transporting troops and military supplies be

furnished as far as possible in such manner as not to inter-

rupt the commercial intercourse between our people, nor

place a check on their productive energies. To this end the

means of transportation from one section of our country to

the other must be carefully guarded and improved. And

this should be the object of anxious care on the part of

State and Confederate Governments so far as they may

have power over the subject.

We have already two main systems of through trans-

portation from the North to the South,—one from Rich-

mond along the seaboard; the other through Western

Virginia to New Orleans Orleans. A third might be secured

by completing a link of about forty miles between Danville

in Virginia and Greensborough in North Carolina. The

construction of this comparatively short line would give us

a through route from North to South in the interior of the

Confederate States, and give us access to a population and

to military resources from which we are now in great mea-

sure debarred. We should increase greatly the safety and

capacity of our means for transporting men and military

supplies. If the construction of this road should in the

judgment of Congress, as it is in mine, be indispensable

for the most successful prosecution of the war, the action

of the Government will not be restrained by the consti

tutional objection which would attach to a work for com-

mercial purposes, and attention is invited to the practica-

bility of securing its early completion by giving the needful

aid to the company organized for its construction and

administration.

If we husband our means and make a judicious use of

our resources it would be difficult to fix a limit to the

period during which we could conduct a war against the

adversary whom we now encounter. The very efforts which

he makes to isolate and invade us must exhaust his means

whilst they serve to complete the circle and diversify the

productions of our industrial system. The reconstruction

which he seeks to effect by arms becomes daily more and

more palpably impossible. Not only do the causes which

induced us to separate still exist in full force, but they have

been strengthened, and whatever doubt may have lingered

in the minds of any have been completely dispelled by sub-

sequent events. If instead of being a dissolution of a

league, it were indeed a rebellion in which we are

engaged, we might find ample vindication in the in the

scenes which are now being enacted in the United States.

Our people now look with contemptuous astonishment on

those with whom they had been so recently associated.

They shrink with aversion from the bare idea of renewing

such a connection. When they see a President making war

866 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

without the assent of Congress; when they behold judges

threatened because they maintain the writ of habeas cor-

pus so sacred to freemen; when they see justice and law

trampled under the armed heel of military authority, and

upright men and innocent women dragged to distant dun-

geons upon the mere edict of a despot; when they find all

this tolerated and applauded by a people who had been in

the full enjoyment of freedom but a few months ago—they

believe that there must be some radical incompatibility

between such a people and themselves. With such a peo-

ple we may be content to live at peace, but the separation

is final and for the independence we have asserted we will

accept no alternative. The nature of the hostilities which

they have waged against us must be characterized as bar-

barous wherever it is understood. They have bombarded

undefended villages without giving notice to women and

children to enable them to escape, and in one, instance

selected the night as the period when they might surprise

them most effectually whilst asleep and unsuspicious of

danger. Arson and rapine, the destruction of private houses

and property, and injuries of the most wanton character

even upon non-combatants have marked their forays along

our borders and upon our Territory. Although we ought to

have been admonished by these things that they were dis-

posed to make war upon us in the most cruel and relent-

less spirit, yet we were not prepared to see them fit out a

large naval expedition with the confessed purpose not only

to pillage, but to incite a servile insurrection in our midst.

If they convert their soldiers into incendiaries and

robbers and involve us in a species of war which claims

non-combatants, women and children as its victims, they

must expect to be treated as outlaws and enemies of

mankind. There are certain rights of humanity which are

entitled to respect even in war, and he who refuses to

regard them forfeits his claims, if captured, to be consid-

ered as a prisoner of war but must expect to be dealt with

as an offender against all law human and divine. But not

content with violating our rights under the law of nations

at home, they have extended these injuries to us within

other jurisdictions. The distinguished gentlemen whom,

with your approval at the last session, I commissioned to

represent the Confederacy at certain foreign courts, have

been recently seized by the captain of a United States ship

of War on board a British steamer on their voyage from the

neutral Spanish port of Havana to England. The United

States have thus claimed a general jurisdiction over the

high seas, and entering a British ship sailing under its

country’s flag violated the rights of embassy, for the most

part held sacred even amongst barbarians, by seizing our

ministers whilst under the protection and within the

dominions of a neutral nation. These gentlemen were as

much under the jurisdiction of the British Government

upon that ship and beneath its flag as if they had been on

its soil, and a claim on the part of the United States to seize

them in the streets of London would have been as well

founded as that to apprehend them where they were

taken. Had they been malefactors and citizens even of the

United States, they could not have been arrested on a

British ship or on British soil unless under the express pro-

visions of a treaty and according to the forms therein pro-

vided for the extradition of criminals.

But rights the most sacred seem to have lost all

respect in their eyes. When Mr. Faulkner, a former minis-

ter of the United States to France commissioned before

the secession of Virginia, his native State, returned in good

faith to Washington to settle his accounts and fulfill all the

obligations into which he had entered, he was perfidiously

arrested and imprisoned in New York, where he now is.

The unsuspecting confidence with which he reported to

his Government was abused, and his desire to fulfill his

trust to them was used to his injury.

In conducting this war we have sought no aid and pro-

posed no alliances offensive and defensive abroad. We

have asked for a recognized place in the great family of

nations, but in doing so we have demanded nothing for

which we did not offer a fair equivalent—The advantages

of intercourse are mutual amongst Nations, and in seeking

to establish diplomatic relations we were only endeavoring

to place that intercourse under the regulation of public

law. Perhaps we had the right if we had chosen to exercise

it, to ask to know whether the principle that “blockades to

be binding, must be effectual” so solemnly announced by

the great Powers of Europe at Paris is to be generally

enforced or applied only to particular parties.

When the Confederate States at your last session

became a party to the declaration reaffirming this princi-

ple of international law which has been recognized so long

by publicists and Governments, we certainly supposed that

it was to be universally enforced. The customary law of

nations is made up of their practice rather than their dec-

larations; and if such declarations are only to be enforced

in particular instances at the pleasure of those who make

them, then the commerce of the world so far from being

placed under the regulation of a general law, will become

subject to the caprice of those who execute or suspend it

at will—If such is to be the course of Nations in regard to

this law, it is plain that it will thus become a rule for the

weak and not for the strong.

Feeling that such views must be taken by the neutral

nations of the Earth, I have caused the evidence to be col-

lected which proves completely the utter inefficiency of

the proclaimed blockade of our coast and shall direct it to

be laid before such Governments as shall afford us the

means of being heard—But although we should be bene-

fited by the enforcement of this law so solemnly declared

by the great Powers of Europe, we are not dependent on

The Civil War Years 867

that enforcement for the successful prosecution of the war.

As long as hostilities continue the Confederate States will

exhibit a steadily increasing capacity to furnish their troops

with food, clothing and arms. If they should be forced to

forego many of the luxuries and some of the comforts of

life, they will at least have the consolation of knowing that

they are thus daily becoming more and more independent

of the rest of the world. If in this process labor in the Con-

federate States should be gradually diverted from those

great Southern Staples which have given life to so much of

the commerce of mankind into other channels so as to

make them rival producers instead of profitable cus-

tomers, they will not be the only or even the chief losers by

this change in the direction of their industry. Although it is

true that the cotton supply from the Southern States could

only be totally cut off by the subversion of our social sys-

tem; yet it is plain that a long continuance of this blockade

might by a diversion of labor and an investment of capital

in other employments so diminish the supply as to bring

ruin upon all those interests of foreign countries which are

dependent on that Staple. For every laborer who is

diverted from the culture of cotton in the South, perhaps

four times as many elsewhere who have found subsistence

in the various employments growing out of its use, will be

forced also to change their occupation.

While the war which is waged to take from us the

right of Self-Government can never attain that end, it

remains to be seen how far it may work a revolution in the

industrial system of the world, which may carry suffering

to other lands as well as to our own. In the meantime we

shall continue this struggle in humble dependence upon

Providence from whose searching scrutiny we cannot con-

ceal the secrets of our hearts, and to whose rule we confi-

dently submit our destinies. For the rest we shall depend

upon ourselves—Liberty is always won where there exists

the unconquerable will to be free, and we have reason to

know the strength that is given by a conscious sense, not

only of the magnitude, but of the righteousness of our

cause.

Source:

The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Vol. 7, 1861, pp. 412–421. The

Museum of the Confederacy. Eleanor S. Brockenbrough

Library. Richmond, Virginia.

U.S. Congress, District of Columbia

Emancipation Act, 1862

An act of Congress, signed on April 16, 1862, that ended slav-

ery in the District of Columbia. President Abraham Lincoln

signed this bill nine months before he issued the Emancipation

Proclamation. The act’s passage ended decades of unrest in

the district, the result of what antislavery advocates called “the

national shame” of slavery in the nation’s capital.

The District of Columbia Emancipation Act is the only

example of compensated emancipation in the United States. It

declared the immediate emancipation of all slaves within the

confines of the district and provided up to $100 in aid to each

slave choosing to emigrate to colonies outside of the United

States. The act also provided slave owners loyal to the Union

cause with up to $300 compensation for each of their slaves.

Over the next nine months, the federal government paid

nearly $1 million for the freedom of approximately 3,100 for-

mer slaves. Although the act’s three-way approach of immedi-

ate emancipation, compensation, and colonization did not

serve as a model for the future, the act’s passage was an early

signal of the death of slavery.

The same year, Lincoln requested, and Congress issued,

a resolution providing compensation to states undertaking a

program of gradual emancipation. When that program failed,

Congress passed the U.S. Confiscation Act of 1862. This act,

passed by Congress on July 17, 1862, provided for the seizure

of property of disloyal slave owners and the emancipation of

their slaves. The property of local, state, and Confederate

civil and military officials was specifically noted as subject to

confiscation. Like the U.S. Confiscation Act of 1861, the

1862 act treated slave emancipation as a punishment for

insurrection and not as a moral goal in its own right. Signed

by President Abraham Lincoln, the act was unenforceable

until Union armies occupied the South. Because his proposal

for gradual, compensated emancipation failed, in September

1862 the president issued his preliminary Emancipation

Proclamation.

________________________

_______________________

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives

of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That all persons held to service or labor within the District

of Columbia by reason of African descent are hereby dis-

charged and freed of and from all claim to such service or

labor; and from and after the passage of this act neither

slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime,

whereof the party shall be duly convicted, shall hereafter

exist in said District.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all persons loyal

to the United States, holding claims to service or labor

against persons discharged therefrom by this act, may,

within ninety days from the passage thereof, but not there-

after, present to the commissioners hereinafter mentioned

their respective statements or petitions in writing, verified

by oath or affirmation, setting forth the names, ages, and

personal description of such persons, the manner in which

said petitioners acquired such claim, and any facts touch-

ing the value thereof, and declaring his allegiance to the

868 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

Government of the United States, and that he has not

borne arms against the United States during the present

rebellion, nor in any way given aid or comfort thereto: Pro-

vided, That the oath of the party to the petition shall not

be evidence of the facts therein stated.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President

of the United States, with the advice and consent of the

Senate, shall appoint three commissioners, residents of

the District of Columbia, any two of whom shall have

power to act, who shall receive the petitions above men-

tioned, and who shall investigate and determine the valid-

ity and value of the claims therein presented, as aforesaid,

and appraise and apportion, under the proviso hereto

annexed, the value in money of the several claims by them

found to be valid: Provided, however, That the entire sum

so appraised and apportioned shall not exceed in the

aggregate an amount equal to three hundred dollars for

each person shown to have been so held by lawful claim:

And provided, further, That no claim shall be allowed for

any slave or slaves brought into said District after the pas-

sage of this act, nor for any slave claimed by any person

who has borne arms against the Government of the

United States in the present rebellion, or in any way given

aid or comfort thereto, or which originates in or by virtue

of any transfer heretofore made, or which shall hereafter

be made by any person who has in any manner aided or

sustained the rebellion against the Government of the

United States.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That said commis-

sioners shall, within nine months from the passage of this

act, make a full and final report of their proceedings,

findings, and appraisement, and shall deliver the same to

the Secretary of the Treasury, which report shall be

deemed and taken to be conclusive in all respects, except

as hereinafter provided; and the Secretary of the Trea-

sury shall, with like exception, cause the amounts so

apportioned to said claims to be paid from the Treasury

of the United States to the parties found by said report to

be entitled thereto as aforesaid, and the same shall be

received in full and complete compensation: Provided,

That in cases where petitions may be filed presenting

conflicting claims, or setting up liens, said commissioners

shall so specify in said report, and payment shall not be

made according to the award of said commissioners until

a period of sixty days shall have elapsed, during which

time any petitioner claiming an interest in the particular

amount may file a bill in equity in the Circuit Court of

the District of Columbia, making all other claimants

defendants thereto, setting forth the proceedings in such

case before said commissioners and their actions therein,

and praying that the party to whom payment has been

awarded may be enjoined form receiving the same; and if

said court shall grant such provisional order, a copy

thereof may, on motion of said complainant, be served

upon the Secretary of the Treasury, who shall thereupon

cause the said amount of money to be paid into said

court, subject to its orders and final decree, which pay-

ment shall be in full and complete compensation, as in

other cases.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That said commis-

sioners shall hold their sessions in the city of Washington,

at such place and times as the President of the United

States may direct, of which they shall give due and public

notice. They shall have power to subpoena and compel the

attendance of witnesses, and to receive testimony and

enforce its production, as in civil cases before courts of jus-

tice, without the exclusion of any witness on account of

color; and they may summon before them the persons

making claim to service or labor, and examine them under

oath; and they may also, for purposes of identification and

appraisement, call before them the persons so claimed.

Said commissioners shall appoint a clerk, who shall keep

files and [a] complete record of all proceedings before

them, who shall have power to administer oaths and affir-

mations in said proceedings, and who shall issue all lawful

process by them ordered. The Marshal of the District of

Columbia shall personally, or by deputy, attend upon the

sessions of said commissioners, and shall execute the pro-

cess issued by said clerk.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That said commis-

sioners shall receive in compensation for their services the

sum of two thousand dollars each, to be paid upon the fil-

ing of their report; that said clerk shall receive for his ser-

vices the sum of two hundred dollars per month; that said

marshal shall receive such fees as are allowed by law for

similar services performed by him in the Circuit Court of

the District of Columbia; that the Secretary of the Trea-

sury shall cause all other reasonable expenses of said com-

mission to be audited and allowed, and that said

compensation, fees, and expenses shall be paid from the

Treasury of the United States.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That for the purpose

of carrying this act into effect there is hereby appropriated,

out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropri-

ated, a sum not exceeding one million of dollars.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That any person or

persons who shall kidnap, or in any manner transport or

procure to be taken out of said District, any person or per-

sons discharged and freed by the provisions of this act, or

any free person or persons with intent to re-enslave or sell

such person or person into slavery, or shall re-enslave any

of said freed persons, the person of persons so offending

shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction

thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction in said Dis-

trict, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than

five nor more that twenty years.

The Civil War Years 869

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That within twenty

days, or within such further time as the commissioners

herein provided for shall limit, after the passage of this act,

a statement in writing or schedule shall be filed with the

clerk of the Circuit court for the District of Columbia, by

the several owners or claimants to the services of the per-

sons made free or manumitted by this act, setting forth the

names, ages, sex, and particular description of such per-

sons, severally; and the said clerk shall receive and record,

in a book by him to be provided and kept for that purpose,

the said statements or schedules on receiving fifty cents

each therefor, and no claim shall be allowed to any

claimant or owner who shall neglect this requirement.

Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the said clerk

and his successors in office shall, from time to time, on

demand, and on receiving twenty-five cents therefor, pre-

pare, sign, and deliver to each person made free or manu-

mitted by this act, a certificate under the seal of said court,

setting out the name, age, and description of such person,

and stating that such person was duly manumitted and set

free by this act.

Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one

hundred thousand dollars, out of any money in the Trea-

sury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated,

to be expended under the direction of the President of the

United States, to aid in the colonization and settlement of

such free persons of African descent now residing in said

District, including those to be liberated by this act, as may

desire to emigrate to the Republics of Hayti or Liberia, or

such other country beyond the limits of the United States

as the President may determine: Provided, The expendi-

ture for this purpose shall not exceed one hundred dollars

for each emigrant.

Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That all acts of

Congress and all laws of the State of Maryland in force in

said District, and all ordinances of the cities of Washington

and Georgetown, inconsistent with the provisions of this

act, are hereby repealed.

Approved, April 16, 1862.

Source:

National Archives and Records Administration. “An Act for the

Release of certain Persons held to Service or Labor in the

District of Columbia.” Available on-line. URL: www.

archives.gov/exhibit_hall/featured_documents/dc_

emancipation_act/transcription.html. Accessed December

2003.

Homestead Act of 1862

First act passed by the U.S. Congress distributing public lands

in the West to settlers. It was supposed to benefit laborers and

tenant farmers. The Northern states had long desired such leg-

islation, but the South had opposed the policy, fearing the

effects of an influx of antislavery homesteaders in the West. It

was only passed after the election of a Republican administra-

tion in 1860 and the secession of the Southern states. Conse-

quently, it benefited Northern railroad and mining interests

and halted the expansion of plantation farming by weakening

sugar, cotton, and tobacco interests. The Homestead Act,

enacted on May 20, 1862, provided 160 acres of unoccupied

public land to any citizen (or intended citizen) who was will-

ing to occupy and cultivate the land for five years and who

was either head of a family or at least 21 years old. The land

was free except for a small filing fee. By 1870 nearly 14 mil-

lion acres had been homesteaded.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

To secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public

Domain.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-

bled, That any person who is the head of a family, or who

has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen

of the United States, or who shall have filed his declara-

tion of intention to become such, as required by the nat-

uralization laws of the United States, and who has never

borne arms against the United States Government or

given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after

the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be

entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of

unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may

have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time

the application is made, be subject to preemption at one

dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre; or eighty

acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two dollars

and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in confor-

mity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after

the same shall have been surveyed: Provided, That any

person owning and residing on land may, under the provi-

sions of this act, enter other land lying contiguous to his or

her said land, which shall not, with the land so already

owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hun-

dred and sixty acres.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person

applying for the benefit of this act shall, upon application

to the register of the land office in which he or she is

about to make such entry, make affidavit before the said

or is twenty-one years or more of age, or shall have per-

formed service in the army or navy of the United States,

and that he has never borne arms against the Govern-

ment of the United States or given aid and comfort to its

enemies, and that such application is made for his or her

870 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made for

the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not

either directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any

other person or persons whomsoever; and upon filing the

said affidavit with the register or receiver, and on pay-

ment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be permit-

ted to enter the quantity of land specified: Provided,

however, That no certificate shall be given or patent

issued therefor, until the expiration of five years from the

date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time,

or at any time within two years thereafter, the person

making such entry; or, if he be dead, his widow; or in case

of her death, his heirs or devisee; or in case of a widow

making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of here

death; shall prove by two credible witnesses that he, she,

or they have resided upon or cultivated the same for the

term of five years immediately succeeding the time of fil-

ing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit that

no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has

borne true allegiance to the Government of the United

States; then, in such case, he, she, or they, if at that time

a citizen of the United States, shall be entitled to a

patient, as in other cases provided for by law: And pro-

vided, further, That in case of the death of both father

and mother, leaving an infant child, or children, under

twenty-one years of age, the right and fee shall enure to

the benefit of said infant child or children; and the execu-

tor, administrator, or guardian may, at any time within

two years after the death of the surviving parent, and in

accordance with the laws of the State in which such chil-

dren for the time being have their domicil, sell said land

for the benefit of said infants, but for no other purpose;

and the purchaser shall acquire the absolute title by the

purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United

States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money

herein specified.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted , That the register of

the land office shall note all such applications on the tract

books and plats of his office, and keep a register of all such

entries, and make return thereof to the General Land

Office, together with the proof upon which they have been

founded.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands

acquired under the provisions of this act shall in any event

become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts con-

tracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That if, at any time

after the filing of the affidavit, as required in the second

section of this act, and before the expiration of the five

years aforesaid, it shall be proven, after due notice to

the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the land

office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall

have actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned

the said land for more than six months at any time, then

and in that event the land so entered shall revert to the

government.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual

shall be permitted to acquire title to more than one quar-

ter section under the provisions of this act; and that the

Commissioner of the General Land Office is hereby

required to prepare and issue such rules and regulations,

consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper to

carry its provisions into effect; and that the registers and

receivers of the several land offices shall be entitled to

receive the same compensation for any lands entered

under the provisions of this act that they are now entitled

to receive when the same quantity of land is entered with

money, one half to be paid by the person making the appli-

cation at the time of so doing, and the other half on the

issue of the certificate by the person to whom it may be

issued; but this shall not be construed to enlarge the max-

imum of compensation now prescribed by law for any reg-

ister or receiver; Provided, That nothing contained in this

act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in any

manner whatever with existing preemption rights: And

provided, further, That all persons who may have filed

their applications for a preemption right prior to the pas-

sage of this act, shall be entitled to all privileges of this act:

Provided, further, That no person who has served, or may

hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen days

in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or

volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of

an actual war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the

benefits of this act on account of not having attained the

age of twenty-one years.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth sec-

tion of the act entitled “An act in addition to an act more

effectually to provide for the punishment of certain

crimes against the United States, and for other pur-

poses,” approved the third of March, in the year eighteen

hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affir-

mations, and affidavits, required or authorized by this

act.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this

act shall be so construed as to prevent any person who has

availed him or herself of the benefits of the first section of

this act, from paying the minimum price, or the price to

which the same may have graduated, for the quantity of

land so entered at any time before the expiration of the

five years, and obtaining a patent thereto from the govern-

ment, as in other cases provided by law, on making proof

of settlement and cultivation as provided by existing laws

granting preemption rights.

Source:

Statutes at Large, Vol. 12, pp. 392–393.

The Civil War Years 871