An Act to
confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes.
Be it enacted . . . , 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.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That such prizes
and capture shall be condemned in the district or circuit court of the United
States having jurisdiction of the amount, or in admiralty in any district in
which the same may be seized, or into which they may be taken and proceedings
first instituted.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the
Attorney-General, or any district attorney of the United States in which said
property may at the time be, may institute the proceedings of condemnation, and
in such case they shall be wholly for the benefit of the United States; or any
person may file an information with such attorney, in which case the
proceedings shall be for the use of such informer and the United States in
equal parts.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever
hereafter, during the present insurrection against the Government of the United
States, any person claimed to be held to labor or service under the law of any
State, shall be required or permitted by the person to whom such labor or
service is claimed to be due, or by the lawful agent of such person, to take up
arms against the United States, or shall be required or permitted by the person
to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due, or his lawful agent, to
work or to be employed in or upon any fort, navy yard, dock, armory, ship,
entrenchment, or in any military or naval service whatsoever, against the
Government and lawful authority of the United States, then, and in every such
case, the person to whom such labor or service is claimed to be due shall
forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the State or of the United States
to the contrary notwithstanding. And whenever thereafter the person claiming
such labor or service shall seek to enforce his claim, it shall be a full and
sufficient answer to such claim that the person whose service or labor is
claimed had been employed in hostile service against the Government of the United
States, contrary to the provisions of this act.
SOURCES: William MacDonald, Editor, Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606-1913, p. 443-4; Frank
Moore, Editor, The Rebellion Record,
Volume 2, p. 475-6
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