By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
_Secretary of State_.
[From Statutes at Large (Little, Brown & Co.), Vol. XII, p. 589.]
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 $10,000, 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 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. 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, moneys,
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
rem_ 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 afterwards 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.
[From Statutes at Large (Little, Brown & Co.), Vol. XII, p. 627.]
JOINT RESOLUTION explanatory of "An act to suppress insurrection, to
punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of
rebels, and for other purposes."
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That the provisions of the
third clause of the fifth section of "An act to suppress insurrection,
to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of
rebels, and for other purposes" shall be so construed as not to apply to
any act or acts done prior to the passage thereof, nor to include any
member of a State legislature or judge of any State court who has not in
accepting or entering upon his office taken an oath to support the
constitution of the so-called "Confederate States of America;" nor shall
any punishment or proceedings under said act be so construed as to work
a forfeiture of the real estate of the offender beyond his natural life.
Approved, July 17, 1862.