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The First Confiscation Act (August 6, 1861) Freedmen & Southern Society Project

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The First Confiscation Act (August 6, 1861) Freedmen & Southern Society Project Maria Ward’s primary document project (designed with 8th graders in mind) Student objectives: ~ The student will analyze historical documents and use this knowledge to better understand Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War. ~The student will find evidence to support Lincoln’s belief that emancipation is for the purpose of saving the Union, and that it must be done in a constitutional manner. Documents: ~Abraham Lincoln’s Letter to Horace Greeley August 22, 1862 Teaching American History Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?subcategory=4 ~The First Confiscation Act (August 6, 1861) Freedmen & Southern Society Project http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/conact1.htm ~Excerpt from the Proclamation Revoking General Hunter’s Order of Military Emancipation of May 9, 1862 Freedmen & Southern Society Project http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/hunter.htm Narrative: Students will analyze Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862, the (first) Confiscation Act of 1861 and an excerpt from Lincoln’s the Proclamation Revoking General Hunter’s Order of Military Emancipation of May 9, 1862 to explain and support Lincoln’s belief that the purpose of the war is to save the Union, and that any action regarding the emancipation of enslaved persons should be carried out in a constitutional manner. Narrative that is more like a lesson plan: Students will first analyze Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862. This letter is in response to Greeley’s open letter titled, “The Prayer of Twenty Millions” in which Greeley urges Lincoln to free the slaves. [You might choose, depending on the reading level of the students, to “summarize” the beginning first two paragraphs and/or only give students third and fourth paragraphs, and signature of Lincoln’s letter.] They will do this using SOAPSTONE (speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, tone) or other method for analysis. A discussion of their findings will follow, making sure that students understand that Lincoln’s sole purpose is to save the Union, in any constitutional manner possible. Students will read the definition the Conscription Act of August 6, 1861 or an excerpt, given below. (Students will use SOAPSTONE for the excerpt.) Students will use the SOAPSTONE method to analyze Lincoln’s Proclamation Revoking General Hunter’s Order of Military Emancipation of May 9, 1862. [General Hunter declared, as military necessity, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina under martial law and freed the slaves. This document is included in the second link under “document” above. Lincoln explains that only Congress and the president under proclamation of war can make such a decision, and not generals in the field.] Once an understanding of each document is established, students then need to respond to the following questions: -Why does Lincoln support the Confiscation Act of 1861, but revoke Major General Hunter’s proclamation freeing the slaves in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina? -How is this conclusion supported by this letter send to Horace Greeley, just two months later? [Extension activity/questions: Point out the date of the response to Horace Greeley. Why would Lincoln write this letter given that he is waiting for a military victory to issue his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation? Does the Emancipation Proclamation ‘abide by’ his words in the Greeley letter? Excerpts: Please scroll down. Proclamation by the President Washington [D.C.] this nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. Whereas there appears in the public prints, what purports to be a proclamation, of Major General Hunter, in the words and figures following, to wit: Head Quarters Department of the South, Hilton Head, S.C. May 9, 1862. General Orders No 11.–The three States of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, comprising the military department of the south, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under martial law. This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible; the persons in these three States–Georgia, Florida and South Carolina–heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free. (Official) David Hunter, Major General Commanding. Ed. W. Smith, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. And whereas the same is producing some excitement, and misunderstanding; therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, proclaim and declare, that the government of the United States, had no knowledge, information, or belief, of an intention on the part of General Hunter to issue such a proclamation; nor has it yet, any authentic information that the document is genuine– And further, that neither General Hunter, nor any other commander, or person, has been authorized by the Government of the United States, to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any State free; and that the supposed proclamation, now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration. I further make known that whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States, free, and whether at any time, in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the government, to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. These are totally different questions from those of police regulations in armies and camps. Summary definition The Confiscation Act of 1861 The first Confiscation Act, passed on Aug. 6, 1861, authorized Union seizure of rebel property, and it stated that all slaves who fought with or worked for the Confederate military services were freed of further obligations to their masters. Excerpt: The First Confiscation Act CHAP. LX.–An Act to confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 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, …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. 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 forfeit his claim to such labor, any law of the State or of the United States to the contrary notwithstanding…. APPROVED, August 6, 1861. U.S., Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 12 (Boston, 1863), p. 319. http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/conact1.htm Freedmen & Southern Society Project .
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