It appears he refers to Joint Resolution #1, brought by Mr. Wilson on July 6, 1861.
It will not do what Farber claims. Big Dog, this appears to be one dog that just won't hunt.
It said, "That all of the extraordinary acts, proclamations, and orders hereinbefore mentioned, be, and the same are hereby, approved and declared to be in all respects legal and valid, to the same intent, and with the same effect, as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States."
Even in the best, most rosy scenario possible, the it only applies to matters hereinbefore mentioned in the Resolution. As proposed, it would have had no effect whatsoever on any of the illegal acts Lincoln did in secret and had not admitted.
Besides, where this says, "declared to be in all respects legal," rather implies that whatever it speaks of was illegal, absent prior Congressional approval.
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Bills and Resolutions, Senate, 37th Congress, 1st Session: Agreeably to notice, Mr. Wilson asked and obtained leave to bring in the following joint resolution; which was read twice, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and ordered to be printed. Joint Resolution To approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States for suppressing insurrection and ...
Committee: Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia July 6, 1861
Agreeably to notice, Mr. Wilson asked and obtained leave to bring in the following joint resolution; which was read twice, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and ordered to be printed.
Joint Resolution
To approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States for suppressing insurrection and rebellion.
Whereas, since the adjournment of Congress on the fourth day of March last, a formidable insurrection in certain States of this Union has arrayed itself in armed hostility to the government of the United States, constitutionally administered; and whereas the President of the United States did, under the extraordinary exigencies thus presented, exercise certain powers and adopt certain measures for the preservation of this government--that is to say:
First. He did, on the fifteenth day of April last, issue his proclamation calling upon the several States for seventy-five thousand men to suppress such insurrectionary combinations, and to cause the laws to be faithfully executed.
Secondly. He did, on the nineteenth day of April last, issue a proclamation setting on foot a blockade of the ports within the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.
Thirdly. He did, on the twenty-seventh day of April last, issue a proclamation establishing a blockade of the ports within the States of Virginia and North Carolina,
Fourthly. He did, by an order of the twenty-seventh day of April last, addressed to the commanding general of the army of the United States, authorize that officer to suspend the writ of habeas corpus at any point on or in the vicinity of any military line between the city of Philadelphia and the city of Washington.
Fifthly. He did, on the third day of May last, issue a proclamation calling into the service of the United States forty-two thousand and thirty-four volunteers, increasing the regular army by the addition of twenty-two thousand seven hundred and fourteen men, and the navy by an addition of eighteen thousand seamen.
Sixthly. He did, on the tenth day of May last, issue a proclamation authorizing the commander of the forces of the United States on the coast of Florida to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, if necessary.
All of which proclamations and orders have been submitted to this Congress: Now therefore--
Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That all of the extraordinary acts, proclamations, and orders hereinbefore mentioned, be, and the same are hereby, proved and declared to be in all respects legal and valid, to the same intent, and with the same effect, as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States.
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Such as?
Walt