[Dead Corpse]

Further... from your very own link...

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That this act shall continue and be in force for the term of one year, and until the end of the next session of Congress thereafter..

LOL indeed. Are you and justshutupandfakeit sharing the same crib notes?

[mrsmith]

"by law and by tradition US citizens may own ships of war. "
True, as long as you kept them in port or dry dock you could certainly own them.

"That only applies to those merchant ships acting under the authority of the US against the French"
"no armed merchant vessel of the United States shall receive a clearance or permit, or shall be suffered to depart "

"No" is a very clear word. It's just stupid to pretend otherwise. I don't even know what you think you're arguing.

Like I said, people could and did certainly own warships. Obviously they also owned the cannons they put on their warships, or on their merchant ships.