Thursday, September 22, 2016
Unconstitutional Acts 1861-1862
Unconstitutional Acts
During the Civil War, Republicans in the 37th Congress managed to navigate two major pieces of legislation through Capitol Hill that helped free certain types of Confederate slaves. These “confiscation” acts have since become mostly forgotten, however, because their impact on the struggle to abolish slavery was overwhelmed by Lincoln’s emancipation policy. Nonetheless, those acts remained in force throughout the war and arguably triggered Lincoln’s pivotal decision to emancipate slaves by military decree beginning on January 1, 1863.The First Confiscation Act (August 6, 1861) was not an explicit freedom statute, but it authorized Union army officials to seize any slaves employed by the Confederate army. The fourth section of the statute read:
“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.”
Although the First Confiscation Act was not an explicit freedom statute, by neither attempting to define the legal status of the “forfeited” slaves, nor by fully addressing the concerns of the so-called contrabands, it nonetheless had the effect of increasing the spread of freedom almost immediately because of instructions from Secretary of War Simon Cameron (August 8, 1861) that directed army officers to receive and protect fugitives from both disloyal and loyal masters, suggesting that it was the only practical way to proceed and that Congress would ultimately have to figure out a way to provide “just compensation to loyal masters.”
Cameron’s instructions were not uniformly followed, however, and a number of Union officers continued to return fugitive slaves or to deny runaways protection. Over the next several months, this situation provoked repeated clashes between Republican politicians and certain Union generals over what the law required and what military necessity demanded. One notable exchange occurred between Secretary of State William Seward and General George B. McClellan in December 1861.
Arguments such as these eventually provoked the Congress to debate and pass a Second Confiscation Act (July 17, 1862), which went far beyond the first statute in declaring confiscation as punishment for treason and in labeling Confederate slaves as “captives of war” who were to be “forever free.” The Congress also extended their confiscation policy to include any slaves employed by disloyal master anywhere –not just those employed by the rebel armies or navies. The key section of the statute regarding emancipation was Section 9:
“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 person 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.”
Abraham Lincoln signed the new confiscation statute on Thursday, July 17, 1862, but did so reluctantly, convinced that it was both unconstitutional and impractical. He actually drafted a veto message earlier that week, but after some last-minute negotiations, the president and Congress managed to avoid a dramatic confrontation. Nonetheless, President Lincoln issued his veto message with his signature (something that today is called a presidential signing statement) and proceeded to make plans to supersede congressional confiscation with his own emancipation policy, presented in its first draft form to his Cabinet on Tuesday, July 22, 1862.
Congressional confiscation policy had many “authors” and provoked numerous arguments in House and Senate debates. No figure, however, was more important to the development of the policy than Senator Lyman Trumbull, a Republican from Illinois, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Under these circumstances, he might also be considered a “Great Emancipator” from Illinois. You can browse or search the congressional confiscation debates online through “A Century of Lawmaking,” a massive collection of congressional documents courtesy of the Library of Congress.
http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/emancipation/2012/07/14/congressional-confiscation-acts/
Confiscation Act of 1862
The Second Confiscation Act, approved by Congress 16 July
1862, contained the first definite provisions for emancipating
slaves in the rebellious states.Under the act, Confederates who did not surrender within 60 days of the acts passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. The act also dealt with a problem that plagued field commanders occupying Southern territory. As troops advanced, slaves sought refuge in Union camps, and Federal commanders were confused over their obligations to the refugees. Some freed the slaves, others sent them hack to their masters for lack of means to care for them. The Confiscation Act of 1862 declared all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines captives of war who were to be set free.
Though the act implied a willingness to emancipate, at the convenience of the government, it offered blacks no guarantee of civil rights. Instead, it incorporated provisions for transporting and colonizing any black consenting to emigrate to some tropical country that was prepared to guarantee them the rights and privileges of free men. A clause requiring the consent of the freedmen to be colonized was approved after much controversy in Congress.
Radical Republicans, who envisioned distributing confiscated lands to former slaves succeeded in passing the bill only after agreeing to President Lincolns demand to limit seizure of Confederate estates to the lifetime of the offender.
Lincolns limited emancipation gesture applied only to states in open rebellion. The same act granting freedom to Confederate slaves guaranteed the return of fugitives from the border states to any owner who could prove loyalty to the Union. Lincoln could not risk alienating these states, and he hoped that one part of the bill, calling for gradual, compensated emancipation, would draw Virginia and Tennessee back into the Union.
Essentially, the Confiscation Act of 1862 prepared the way for the Emancipation Proclamation and solved the immediate dilemma facing the army concerning the status of slaves within its Jurisdiction.
http://civilwarhome.com/confiscationact1862.htm
Was Abraham Lincoln considered an Unconstitutional President?
Syllabus Sword 2016 - 2017
Sword
of Freedom
Syllabus
(2016-2017)
Week 1 – Aug 26th
Lecture - Choosing your
Allegiance. Learn note taking and proper
lecture behavior.
Writing Assignment - Where is your
allegiance and why?
Activity - Military Rules
Presentation -
Begin Reading - Uncle Tom’s Cabin by
Harriet Beecher-Stowe
Begin researching your presentation
topic
Week 2 - Sept 2nd
Lecture - Public Virtue, Pre-Civil
War history, and Compromise of 1850.
Writing Assignment - Is compromise a
good thing? Why or why not?
Activity
Presentation -
Reading - Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Week 3 - Sept 9th
Lecture - The cycles of History,
Bleeding Kansas, and Elections of 1860.
Writing Assignment- When evil is
being done is it right to react with evil?
Document study - Dread Scott
Presentation -
Reading - Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Week 4 - Sept 16th
Lecture - Secession, Fort Sumter,
First Manassas
Writing Assignment - Is secession
constitutional?
Book Discussion - Uncle Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher-Stowe
Presentation –
Begin Reading - Across Five Aprils by
Irene Hunt
Week 5 - Sept 23rd
Lecture - Shiloh and Antietam and
Unconstitutional Acts
Writing Assignment - Is it ever wrong
to follow the law and if so when and why?
Document study - Emancipation Proclamation
Presentation – Sister Echeverria
Reading - Across Five Aprils
Week 6 - Sept 30th
Lecture - Fredericksburg and
Chancellorsville
Writing Assignment - Write a poem on
something that you have studied so far.
Book Discussion - Across Five Aprils
by Irene Hunt
Presentation – Food by Jonah B
Begin Reading - Abraham Lincoln by
Wilber F. Gordy
Week 7 – Oct 7th
Lecture - Gettysburg
Reading - Abraham Lincoln
Week 8 – Oct 14th
Lecture - Gettysburg
Document Study: Gettysburg Address
Presentation – Uniforms and The Army
by Guest
Reading - Abraham Lincoln
Fall Break Oct 21st - Enjoy!
Week 9 – Oct 28th
Lecture - The Battles of Chickamauga,
Chattanooga, and Wilderness.
Writing Assignment - Write a letter
home as if you had just fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Book Discussion - Abraham Lincoln by
Wilber F. Gordy
Presentation – Underground by Gavin K
Begin Reading - To Kill a Mocking
Bird by Harper Lee
Week 10 – Nov 4th
Lecture - Cold Harbor, Spotsylvania,
Raid in the South
Writing Assignment - In your opinion
was Sherman’s Raid right. Why or why
not?
Activity - Who Killed the Constitution?
Presentation – Spies by Jonah C
Reading - To Kill a Mockingbird
Week 11 – Nov 11th
Lecture - The Last Goodbye. The Surrender at Appomattox.
Writing Assignment - Start Writing
Hero Report
Document Study - Abraham Lincoln’s
Second Inaugural Address
Presentation – Prisons by McKensey E
Reading - To Kill A Mockingbird
Week 12 – Nov 18th
Lecture - The Death of President
Lincoln.
Writing Assignment - Write a paper on
how you would try to bind the nation’s wounds.
Document study - Amendments 13-15.
Presentation – Weapons by Gavin
Reading: To Kill A Mockingbird
Thanksgiving Break Nov 25th
- Gobble Gobble!
Week 13 – Dec 2nd
Lecture: The Reconstruction
Writing Assignment - Pay the
Debt. How do you plan to pay back your
ancestors and continue to preserve freedom?
Presentation -
Book Discussion - To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Week 14 – Dec 9th
Lecture - Paying the Debt.
Writing Assignment - None
Activity -
Presentation -
Rank Advancements –
Christmas
Break will be Dec 10, 2016 to Jan 5, 2017.
If you are behind on assignments, you will have until Jan 4th to report
to Sis. Cummings. Enjoy your Christmas Break with Family and
Friends.
Reading:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet
Beecher-Stowe
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Abraham Lincoln by Wilber F. Gordy
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Election 1860
The election in 1860 was a four way war - race.
Lincoln had 39.9%
Stephen A. Douglas 29.5%
John Breckinridge 18.1%
John Bell 12.5%
Who were these men?
 |
| Abraham Lincoln |
 |
| Stephen A. Douglas |
 |
| John Bell |
 |
| John Breckinridge |
What did these men Stand For?
- Who would you vote for and Why?
- Do you think one of these men could win the next Presidential Election?
- Why do you feel passionate about the person you would vote for?
- Why or why not are they a good candidate?
- What happened after the election in 1860?
John Brown - Battle Hymn of the Republic
John Brown - Who is this abolitionist?
Bleeding Kansas
During the Civil War, Kansas suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any Union state, largely because of its great internal divisions over the issue of slavery.
http://www.history.com/topics/bleeding-kansas
Hear John Brown's last speech before his excution.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxvwi-M3LTM
http://www.history.com/topics/bleeding-kansas/videos/john-browns-last-speech
Battle hymn of the Republic
John Brown's Body version original 12-1861 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSSn3NddwFQ
Julia Ward How wrote her own words to the song published 2-1862
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5mmFPyDK_8
Sing along with words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORsNiReoCsw
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