JANUARY 5, 1865:
Although the Confederate
Constitution provided for a Judiciary, that third branch of government was
never put into operation. As a matter of practicality, local judges remained on
the bench handling legal matters in conformity with the Common Law and U.S.
Case Law where it could be applied. Prewar Federal District Judges frequently
remained on the bench and their Courts often became quiet centers of gravity
for Unionist sentiment.
As
the United States reabsorbed areas of the South, the business of the Courts
slowly returned to normal. In 1862, the Union retook Jacksonville and
reinstituted the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Occasionally
the business of the Courts and military exigencies collided. On this day President
Lincoln received a letter from The Honorable Philip Fraser, the loyal Federal
Judge of the Northern District of Florida, decrying the destructiveness of property
seizures against Unionists. It reads in part:
Sir:
I hope you will find an
excuse for my appealing to you . . . in behalf of the people of my state . . . Threatened
by the rebels on one side, our rights as citizens of the United States
disregarded and trampled upon by commanders of our armies on the other, our
property taken from us [and] used . . . without compensation, our title to
protection as American Citizens . . . treated with coldness or contempt, we
appeal as a last resort to your Excellency, for that protection to which we are
entitled as . . . citizens of these United States . . .
I would rather fall to-day
by a rebel bullet fighting for my country, than to be subjected day by day to
the humiliation of submitting to the petty despotism of small men . . . men . .
. incapable of grappling, like Grant and Sherman and Thomas and Sheridan and Porter
and Farragut with this great rebellion . . . through weakness of head or want
of heart . . . [who] expend . . . their power upon unoffending and unarmed
citizens who have under the Constitution equal rights with themselves --- I
claim for [the] loyal citizens of Florida all the rights and all the protection
to which a citizen of Illinois or of New York may be entitled . . .
Thanks to General Sherman
we hope soon to see Florida free and restored to her rightful position under
the Government --- upholding constitutional liberty, and rebuking tyranny with
the ballot . . .
I claim Mr. President to
be a loyal citizen ready to sacrifice what little I have not already
sacrificed, to restore the authority of the Government over the rebel states. I
am ready to fight when men of my physical ability are needed --- I will vouch
for greater sacrifices than my own on the part of some of my fellow citizens
now in Florida. [Is] Gen Foster [Commanding the Department of The South] privileged to take what little remains to
us . . . ? We do not believe that the Government will sustain him in such
designs . . .
Some of the citizens who
have lost large amounts of property on account of their fidelity to the Union
have purchased confiscated rebel property at Marshals sale --- General Foster
refuses to give them possession, and alleges that he holds it as a military
necessity --- When applied to by one of the purchasers, I am credibly informed
that he replied -- "that if the U. S. Court did not stop interfering with
him he would evacuate Florida"--- The carrying out of such a threat might
exhibit good Generalship in escaping from a dangerous enemy viz: the U. S.
Court, but I think it will hardly be considered by General Grant a military
necessity.
I wish myself to place
no impediment in the way of military operations. The Court has not done so thus
far. Neither can it do so --- It is merely exercising its proper functions by
enforcing the laws of Congress. If the Government will sustain the Court it
will continue to do so, if not it must discontinue its business and adjourn
until happier days ---
. . .
I have the honor to be
Very Respectfully
Your Obedient Servant
Philip Fraser
U. S. District Judge
Northern District of Florida
