Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

Assistant Treasurers of the United States at Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, or treasury notes bearing interest at the rate of three and sixty-five hundredths per centum, payable in one year from date, and exchangeable at any time for treasury notes for fifty dollars, and upwards, issuable under the authority of this act, and bearing interest as specified above: Provided, That no exchange of such notes in any less amount than one hundred dollars shall be made at any one time: And provided further, That no treasury notes shall be issued of a less denomination than ten dollars, and that the whole amount of treasury notes, not bearing interest, issued under the authority of this act, shall not exceed fifty millions of dollars.

*

*

*

*

*

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That whenever any treasury notes of a denomination less than fifty dollars, authorized to be issued by this act, shall have been redeemed, the Secretary of the Treasury may re-issue the same, or may cancel them and issue new notes to an equal amount: Provided, That the aggregate amount of bonds and treasury notes issued under the foregoing provisions of this act shall never exceed the full amount authorized by the first section of this act; and the power to issue, or re-issue such notes shall cease and determine after the thirty-first of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-two.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized, whenever he shall deem it expedient, to issue in exchange for coin, or in payment for public dues, treasury notes of any of the denominations herein before specified, bearing interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, and payable at any time not exceeding twelve months from date, provided that the amount of notes so issued, or paid, shall at no time exceed twenty millions of dollars.

[blocks in formation]

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the faith of the United States is hereby solemnly pledged for the payment of the interest and redemption of the principal of the loan authorized by

this act.

*

No. 120.

Act authorizing the Employment

of Volunteers

July 22, 1861

A BILL to authorize the employment of volunteers, in accordance with the recommendation of President Lincoln in his message of July 4, 1861, was introduced in the Senate, July 6, by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, and passed that house on the 10th by a vote of 34 to 4. On the 12th the action was reconsidered, and the bill with further amendments was again passed by a vote of 35 to 4. The passage of a substitute bill by the House caused a reference of the matter to a conference committee, whose report was agreed to by the two houses on the 18th. The discussion in each house had to do mainly with the details of organization of the volunteers provided for by the bill.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII., 268–271. For the debates see the House and Senate Journals and Cong. Globe, 37th Cong., 1st Sess. On the efficiency of volunteers and the condition of the militia see House Exec. Doc. 54 and House Report 58, 36th Cong., 2d Sess., and House Report 1, 37th Cong., 1st Sess. A summary view of early military legislation, Union and Confederate, is given in McPherson, History of the Rebellion, 115-121.

An Act to authorize the Employment of Volunteers to aid in enforcing the Laws and protecting Public Property.

WHEREAS, certain of the forts, arsenals, custom-houses, navy yards, and other property of the United States have been seized, and other violations of law have been committed and are threatened by organized bodies of men in several of the States, and a conspiracy has been entered into to overthrow the Government of the United States: Therefore,

[ocr errors]

Be it enacted. That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers, not exceeding five hundred thousand, as he may deem necessary, for the purpose of repelling invasion, suppressing insurrection, enforcing the laws, and preserving and protecting the public property: Provided, That the services of the volunteers shall be for such time as the President may direct, not exceeding three years nor less than six months,' and they shall be disbanded at the end of the war. . . 1 A supplementary act of July 25, 1861, provided that volunteers should "be mustered in for 'during the war."" .ED.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said volunteers shall be subject to the rules and regulations governing the army of the United States, and that they shall be formed, by the President, into regiments of infantry, with the exception of such numbers for cavalry and artillery, as he may direct, not to exceed the proportion of one company of each of those arms to every regiment of infantry, and to be organized as in the regular service.

[The remainder of the act relates to the organization of the volunteers, the appointment of officers, etc.]

No. 121.

Resolution on the Nature and
Object of the War

July 22, 1861

A RESOLUTION declaratory of the nature and object of the war was offered in the House, July 22, 1861, by John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. In the vote the resolution was divided, the first part, through the word "capital," being adopted by a vote of 122 to 2, and the remainder by a vote of 117 to 2. A resolution in practically identical terms was offered in the Senate, July 24, by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, and on the 25th, after a long discussion, was adopted, the vote being 30 to 5. The resolutions, which "gave expression to the common sentiment of the country," were the only formal declarations out of a great number submitted which passed the houses.

REFERENCES. — Text in House Journal, 37th Cong., 1st Sess., 123. For the debates see the Cong. Globe. A list of the principal declaratory resolutions submitted, with the action on each, is given in McPherson, Rebellion, 285-290.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Resolved That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern States, now in arms against the constitutional government, and in arms around the capital; that in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged on their part in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Consti

tution, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease.

No. 122.

Act for Calling out the Militia

July 29, 1861

A BILL "to provide for the suppression of rebellion," etc., was introduced in the House, July 10, by John A. Bingham of Ohio, and on the 16th passed without a division. The bill passed the Senate on the 26th, and on the 29th the act was approved. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII., 281, 282. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals and the Cong. Globe. The changes made by the act are set forth in the House proceedings of July 16; compare President Buchanan's remarks on the employment of the militia under the acts of 1795 and 1807, in his annual message of December 3, 1860.

An Act to provide for the Suppression of Rebellion against and Resistance to the Laws of the United States, and to amend the Act entitled "An Act to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union," &c., passed [February 28, 1795].

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Be it enacted . . . That whenever, by reason of unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages of persons, or rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States, it shall become impracticable, in the judgment of the President of the United States, to enforce, by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, the laws of the United States within any State or Territory of the United States, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia of any or all the States of the Union, and to employ such parts of the land and naval forces of the United States as he may deem necessary to enforce the faithful execution of the laws of the United States, or to suppress such rebellion in whatever State or Territory thereof the laws of the United States may be forcibly opposed, or the execution thereof forcibly obstructed. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever, in the judgment of the President, it may be necessary to use the mili

tary force hereby directed to be employed and called forth by him, the President shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a limited time.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the militia so called into the service of the United States shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war as the troops of the United States, and be continued in the service of the United States until discharged by proclamation of the President: Provided, That such continuance in service shall not extend beyond sixty days after the commencement of the next regular session of Congress, unless Congress shall expressly provide by law therefor: . . .

[blocks in formation]

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the marshals of the several districts of the United States, and their deputies, shall have the same powers in executing the laws of the United States as sheriffs and their deputies in the several States, have by law, in executing the laws of the respective States.

*

No. 123. Act to Define and Punish certain

Conspiracies

July 31, 1861

A BILL "to define and punish certain conspiracies" was presented in the House, July 15, by John Hickman of Pennsylvania, and passed by a vote of 123 to 7. In the Senate the printing of a minority report submitted by Bayard of Delaware and Powell of Kentucky was refused by a vote of 10 to 29, and on the 26th the bill in amended form passed the Senate. Nine Senators entered a protest against the bill. The amendment of the Senate was concurred in by the House on the 30th, and the next day the act was approved. REFERENCES. - Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XII., 284. The important proceedings are those of the Senate for July 24 and 26 (Cong. Globe, 37th Cong., 1st Sess.).

An Act to define and punish certain Conspiracies.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Be it enacted That if two or more persons within any State or Territory of the United States shall conspire together

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »