AN ACT to suppress
insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the
property of rebels, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every person who shall hereafter
commit the crime of treason against the United States, and shall be adjudged
guilty thereof, shall suffer death, and all his slaves, if any, shall be
declared and made free; or, at the discretion of the court, he shall be
imprisoned for not less than five years and fined not less than $10,000, and
all his slaves, if any, shall be declared and made free; said fine shall be
levied and collected on any or all of the property, real and personal,
excluding slaves, of which the said person so convicted was the owner at the
time of committing the said crime, any sale or conveyance to the contrary
notwithstanding.
SEC. 2. And be
it further enacted, That if any person shall hereafter incite, set on foot,
assist, or engage in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the
United States, or the laws thereof, or shall give aid or comfort thereto, or shall
engage in, or give aid and comfort to, any such existing rebellion or
insurrection, and be convicted thereof, such person shall be punished by
imprisonment for a period not exceeding ten years, or by a fine not exceeding
ten thousand dollars, and by the liberation of all his slaves, if any he have;
or by both of said punishments, at the discretion of the court.
SEC. 3. And be
it further enacted, That every person guilty of either of the offenses
described in this act shall be forever incapable and disqualified to hold any
office under the United States.
SEC. 4. And be
it further enacted, That this act shall not be construed in any way to
affect or alter the prosecution, conviction, or punishment of any person or
persons guilty of treason against the United States before the passage of this
act, unless such person is convicted under this act.
SEC. 5. And be
it further enacted, That, to insure the speedy termination of the present
rebellion, it shall be the duty of the President of the United States to cause
the seizure of all the estate and property, money, stocks, credits, and effects
of the persons hereinafter named in this section, and to apply and use the same
and the proceeds thereof for the support of the Army of the United States – that
is to say:
First.
Of any person hereafter acting as an officer of the army or navy of the rebels
in arms against the Government of the United States.
Secondly.
Of any person hereafter acting as President, Vice-President, member of
Congress, judge of any court, cabinet officer, foreign minister, commissioner
or consul of the so-called Confederate States of America.
Thirdly.
Of any person acting as Governor of a State, member of a convention or
Legislature, or judge of any court of any of the so-called Confederate States of
America.
Fourthly.
Of any person who, having held an office of honor, trust, or profit in the
United States, shall hereafter hold an office in the so-called Confederate
States of America.
Fifthly.
Of any person hereafter holding any office or agency under the government of
the so-called Confederate States of America, or under any of the several States
of the said Confederacy, or the laws thereof, whether such office or agency be
national, state, or municipal in its name or character: Provided, That
the persons thirdly, fourthly, and fifthly above described shall have accepted
their appointment or election since the date of the pretended ordinance of
secession of the State, or shall have taken an oath of allegiance to, or to
support the Constitution of, the so-called Confederate States.
Sixthly.
Of any person who, owning property in any loyal State or Territory of the
United States, or in the District of Columbia, shall hereafter assist and give
aid and comfort to such rebellion ; and all sales, transfers, or conveyances of
any such property shall he null and void; and it shall be a sufficient bar to
any suit brought by such person for the possession or the use of such property,
or any of it, to allege and prove that he is one of the persons described in this
section.
SEC. 6. And be
it further enacted, That if any person within any State or Territory of the
United States, other than those named, as aforesaid, after the passage of this
act, being engaged in armed rebellion against the Government of the United
States, or aiding or abetting such rebellion, shall not, within sixty days
after public warning and proclamation duly given and made by the President of
the United States, cease to aid, countenance, and abet such rebellion, and
return to his allegiance to the United States, all the estate and property,
money, stocks, and credits of such person shall be liable to seizure, as
aforesaid, and it shall be the duty of the President to seize and use them as
aforesaid or the proceeds thereof. And all sales, transfers, or conveyances of
any such property after the expiration of the said sixty days from the date of
such warning and proclamation shall be null and void; and it shall be a
sufficient bar to any suit brought by such person for the possession or the use
of such property, or any of it, to allege and prove that he is one of the
persons described in this section.
SEC. 7. And be
it further enacted, That to secure the condemnation and sale of any
of such property, after the same shall have been seized, so that it may be made
available for the purpose aforesaid, proceedings in rein shall be instituted in
the name of the United States in any district court thereof, or in any
Territorial court or in the United States district court for the District of
Columbia, within which the property above described, or any part thereof, may
be found, or into which the same, if movable, may first be brought, which
proceedings shall conform as nearly as may be to proceedings in admiralty or
revenue cases; and if said property, whether real or personal, shall be found
to have belonged to a person engaged in rebellion, or who has given aid or
comfort thereto, the same shall be condemned as enemies' property and become
the property of the United States, and may be disposed of as the court shall
decree, and the proceeds thereof paid into the Treasury of the United States
for the purposes aforesaid.
SEC. 8. And be
it further enacted, That the several courts aforesaid shall have power to
make such orders, establish such forms of decree and sale, and direct such
deeds and conveyances to be executed and delivered by the marshals thereof
where real estate shall be the subject of sale, as shall fitly and efficiently
effect the purposes of this act, and vest in the purchasers of such property
good and valid titles thereto. And the said courts shall have power to allow
such fees and charges of their officers as shall be reasonable and proper in
the premises.
SEC. 9. And be
it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be
engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall
in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking
refuge within the lines of the Army; and all slaves captured from such persons
or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the
United States, and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any
place occupied by rebel forces and afterward occupied by the forces of the
United States shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of
their servitude, and not again held as slaves.
SEC. 10. And be
it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or
the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in
any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offense
against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make
oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged
to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States
in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no
person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall,
under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of
any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any
such person to the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service.
SEC. 11. And be
it further enacted, That the President of the United States is authorized
to employ as many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary and
proper for the suppression of this rebellion, and for this purpose he may
organize and use them in such manner as he may judge best for the public
welfare.
SEC. 12. And be
it further enacted, That the President of the United States is hereby
authorized to make provision for the transportation, colonization, and
settlement, in some tropical country beyond the limits of the United States, of
such persons of the African race, made free by the provisions of this act, as
may be willing to emigrate, having first obtained the consent of the government
of said country to their protection and settlement within the same, with all
the rights and privileges of freemen.
SEC. 13. And be
it further enacted, That the President is hereby authorized, at any time
hereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in
the existing rebellion in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with
such exceptions and at such time and on such conditions as he may deem expedient
for the public welfare.
SEC. 14. And be
it further enacted, That the courts of the United States shall have full
power to institute proceedings, make orders and decrees, issue process, and do
all other things necessary to carry this act into effect.
Approved July 17, 1862.
SOURCE: SOURCE: The
War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 2 (Serial No. 123), p. 275-6
