AUGUST 6, 1861:
Confirming the President's War Powers, the U.S. Congress
passes the first Confiscation Act. It reads in part:
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That if, during the
present or any future insurrection against the Government of the United States,
after the President of the United States shall have declared, by proclamation,
that the laws of the United States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed,
by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by law, any person
or persons, his, her, or their agent, attorney, or employé, shall purchase or
acquire, sell or give, any property of whatsoever kind or description, with
intent to use or employ the same, or suffer the same to be used or employed, in
aiding, abetting, or promoting such insurrection or resistance to the laws, or
any person or persons engaged therein; or if any person or persons, being the
owner or owners of any such property, shall knowingly use or employ, or consent
to the use or employment of the same as aforesaid, all such property is hereby
declared to be lawful subject of prize and capture wherever found; and it shall
be the duty of the President of the United States to cause the same to be
seized, confiscated, and condemned.”
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