Posted on 07/27/2003 5:08:19 PM PDT by thatdewd
Edited on 05/07/2004 6:46:56 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The writer is a circuit judge who lives in Kuttawa, Ky.
KUTTAWA, Ky. - The Courier Journal, at the behest of its columnist John David Dyche, has called for the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol. Such a supposedly politically correct viewpoint reflects a shallow, selective and even hypocritical understanding of history.
(Excerpt) Read more at courier-journal.com ...
In his special message of July 4, 1861 to Congress, seeking to justify his illegal actions and to obtain Congressional forgiveness, Lincoln lied repeatedly. He gave false information and he withheld information. His lies and omissions were relevant and material.
In Lincoln Lied 1, I documented that Lincoln lied about knowledge of the existing armistice and then stonewalled a request from Congress for relevant and material information.
In Lincoln Lied 2, I documented that Lincoln lied about knowledge of Lt. Worden and limits on communicating with Capt. Adams. Lincoln stonewalled a request from Congress about Lt. Worden.
In Lincoln Lied 3, I documented that Lincoln lied about his inability to reinforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would be reached at Fort Sumter.
[Lincoln] As had been intended, in this contingency, it was also resolved to notify the Governor of South Carolina, that he might except an attempt would be made to provision the Fort; and that, if the attempt should not be resisted, there would be no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition, without further notice....
Once again, Lincoln simply lied. The day after Congress adjourned, Lincoln began to issue orders, not to resupply Sumter and Pickens, but specifically to reinforce. Lincoln lied to the governor of South Carolina and he lied to Congress.
O.R. Series 1, Vol. 1, Part 1, page 286
MONTGOMERY, ALA., April 3, 1861 - 10 p. m.
General BEAUREGARD:
Minnesota ordered to sea, supposed to be for mouth of Mississippi; Powhatan to sail next week; Pawnee ordered to sea on Saturday. Three companies artillery (one of sappers and miners) ordered to New York; probably for the South. Be on lookout.
L. P. WALKER.
March 29, 1861
To the Secretary of the Navy
I desire that an expedition, to move by sea be go ready to sail as early as the 6th of April next, the whole according to memorandum attached: and that you co-operate with the Secretary of War for that object.
Signed: Abraham Lincoln
The memorandum attached called for:
From the Navy, three ships of war, the Pocahontas, the Pawnee and the Harriet Lane; and 300 seamen, and one month's stores.
From the War Department, 200 men, ready to leave garrison; and one year's stores.
April 1, 1861 by General Scott
April 2, 1861 approved by Abraham Lincoln
To: Brevet Colonel Harvey Brown, U.S. Army
You have been designated to take command of an expedition to reinforce and hold Fort Pickens in the harbor of Pensacola. You will proceed to New York where steam transportation for four companies will be engaged; -- and putting on board such supplies as you can ship without delay proceed at once to your destination. The object and destination of this expedition will be communicated to no one to whom it is not already known. Signed: Winfield Scott
Signed approved: Abraham Lincoln
April 4, 1861
To: Lieut. Col. H.L. Scott, Aide de Camp
This will be handed to you by Captain G.V. Fox, an ex-officer of the Navy. He is charged by authority here, with the command of an expedition (under cover of certain ships of war) whose object is, to reinforce Fort Sumter.
To embark with Captain Fox, you will cause a detachment of recruits, say about 200, to be immediately organized at fort Columbus, with competent number of officers, arms, ammunition, and subsistence, with other necessaries needed for the augmented garrison at Fort Sumter.
Signed: Winfield Scott
April 1, 1861
To Captain H.A. Adams
Commanding Naval Forces off Pensacola
Herewith I send you a copy of an order received by me last night. You will see by it that I am directed to land my command at the earliest opportunity. I have therefore to request that you will place at my disposal such boats and other means as will enable me to carry into effect the enclosed order.
Signed: I. Vogdes, Capt. 1st Artly. Comdg.
Captain Adams REFUSED TO OBEY THE ORDER and reported to the Secretary of the Navy as follows:
It would be considered not only a declaration but an act of war; and would be resisted to the utmost.
Both sides are faithfully observing the agreement (armistice) entered into by the United States Government and Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase, which binds us not to reinforce Fort Pickens unless it shall be attacked or threatened. It binds them not to attack it unless we should attempt to reinforce it.
The Secretary of the Navy issued a CLASSIFIED response to Capt. Adams:
April 6, 1861
Your dispatch of April 1st is received. The Department regrets that you did not comply with the request of Capt. Vogdes. You will immediately on the first favorable opportunity after receipt of this order, afford every facility to Capt. Vogdes to enable him to land the troops under his command, it being the wish and intention of the Navy Department to co-operate with the War Department, in that object.
Signed: Gideon Welles, Secty. of the Navy
April 11, 1861 (USS Supply, official ship's log)
"April 11th at 9 P.M. the Brooklyn got under way and stood in toward the harbor; and during the night landed troops and marines on board, to reinforce Fort Pickens."
April 1, 1861 To: Lt. D.D. Porter, USN
You will proceed to New York and with least possible delay assume command of any steamer available.
Proceed to Pensacola Harbor, and, at any cost or risk, prevent any expedition from the main land reaching Fort Pickens, or Santa Rosa.
You will exhibit this order to any Naval Officer at Pensacola, if you deem it necessary, after you have established yourself within the harbor.
This order, its object, and your destination will be communicated to no person whatever, until you reach the harbor of Pensacola.
Signed: Abraham Lincoln
Recommended signed: Wm. H. Seward
April 1, 1861
Telegram
To: Commandant, Brooklyn Navy Yard
Fit out Powhatan to go to sea at the earliest possible moment, under sealed orders. Orders by confidential messenger go forward tomorrow.
Signed: Abraham Lincoln
April 1, 1861
To: Commandant, Brooklyn Navy Yard
You will fit out the Powhatan without delay. Lieutenant Porter will relieve Captain Mercer in command of her. She is bound on secret service; and you will under no circumstances communicate to the Navy Department the fact that she is fitting out.
Signed: Abraham Lincoln
O.R. Series 1, Vol. 1, Part 1, page 291
APRIL 8, 1861.
"I am directed by the President of the United States to notify you to expect an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such attempt be not resisted no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the fort."
The above was communicated to us on the evening of April 8 by Robert S. Chew, esq., of the State Department in Washington, and Captain Talbot stated that it was from the President of the United States, as did Mr. Chew, and was delivered to him on the 6th instant at Washington, and this was read in their presence and admitted.
F. W. PICKENS.
G. T. BEAUREGARD.
O.R. Series 1, Vol. 1, Part 1, page 292
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
Headquarters, April 9, 1861.
To the PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES:
MY DEAR SIR: I send by the bearer important dispatches to the Secretary of War, and beg to call your immediate attention to them. The bearer is Colonel Hayne, an aide of mine, and will return immediately to me. If you have anything particular to General Beauregard or myself, you can trust it to him, and he will bring it back immediately. Since I inclosed the dispatch to the Secretary of War Major Anderson has written a polite note to General Beauregard, requesting that the letters taken from the mail might be returned, as he had been notified that his mails would be stopped entirely. The general returned for answer that the private letters had been sent to their destination, but the official letters were sent to the Confederate Government, because rumors, well established, indicated that Mr. Fox had violated his faith to me in visiting the fort, under the guarantee of Captain Hartstene, who went with him. The pledge was that he visited Major Anderson by authority, for pacific purposes entirely. You see that the present scheme for supplying the fort is Mr. Fox's. It is thought that the attempt will be made to-night, and we have doubled our steamboats on the harbor and bar.
Since I wrote to the War Department we have increased the forces on Morris Island to two thousand one hundred men, and ten companies of fine men arrive to-night, in the next train, of eight hundred men, and two more regiments arrive to-morrow. We hope to have about six thousand men there on the harbor batteries and posts. I trust we are ready, and if they come we will give them a cordial reception, such as will ring through this country, I think. I hope we are not mistaken; but, at any rate, we will try and do our duty.
With great esteem, yours, very truly,
F. W. PICKENS.
O.R. Series 1, Vol. 1, Part 1, page 292
O.R. Series 1, Vol. 1, Part 1, page 293
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
Headquarters, April 9, 1861.
Honorable Mr. WALKER, Secretary of War:
SIR: At the request of General Beauregard I inclose the within. I took possession of the mails this morning from Sumter, and retained the packages marked "official." These are all sent you. The private letters are all sent, as directed, to their owners. I did this because I consider a state of war is now inaugurated by the authorities at Washington, and all information of a public nature was necessary to us. The mails and all intercourse of any kind with Sumter are now forbidden, and I immediately refused Captain Talbot any interview with Major Anderson, and also his request to be restored to his command in the fort. I called in General Beauregard, and made Captain Talbot and Mr. Chew repeat in his presence what they had said and what the former desired as to Sumter, and General Beauregard entirely and immediately concurred.
You will see by these letters of Major Anderson how it is intended to supply the fort; but by God's providence we will, I trust, be prepared for them; and if they approach with war vessels also, I think you will hear of as bloody a fight as ever occurred. We now have three thousand seven hundred men at the different posts and batteries, and will have by to-morrow three thousand more, which I have called down. From my calculation, I think they will have about two thousand six hundred, and will attempt to land in launch-boats with 24 and 12 pounders, and it will probably be on the lower end of Morris Island, next the light-house. If so, we will have a fine rifle regiment to give them a cordial welcome from behind sand hills (that are natural fortifications), and two Dahlgren guns will be right on them, besides four 24-pounders in battery. I have four hundred fine Enfield rifles that have been practiced at nine hundred yards, and on that island, altogether, we have now one thousand nine hundred and fifty men, and are increasing it to-day.
There has just arrived on the bar a fine rifled cannon from Liverpool, of the latest maker (Blakely gun), an improvement upon Armstrong, of steel rolls or coils, with an elevation of seven and one-half degrees to a mile. It throws a shell or twelve-pound shot with the accuracy of a dueling-pistol, and only one and one-half pounds of powder. Such, they write me, is this gun, and I hope to have it in position to-night. We expect the attack about 6 o'clock in the morning, on account of the tide.
Abe seems to have it as Nancy in the family bible. Official biographers Nicolay and Hay have it as Nancy.
Nicolay and Hay saw Lincoln every day for years. Their book was approved sentence by sentence by Robert Lincoln.
Oh heck, it was probably just like Lincoln to lie to the family bible. He was like Clinton.
I asked the Voice in the Sky about Sister Sara. The Voice said she had two mules and was played by Shirley MacLaine.
That's about the best you can come up with? No support? Nothing about Sarah Lincoln never having a daughter named Sarah? Nothing at all? Not surprising.
Well, if you insist. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, said that while "Mrs. Lincoln (Nancy) bred like a rat in Kentucky she had no more children in Indiana. The same letter also referenced information he received that Thomas Lincoln had become sterile, possibly due to contracting the mumps, with no explanation of when this occurred."
Also, "Herndon reported that when Old Ben Hardin wanted to, he could use the girl Nancy most any time. Thomas' sterility, thought done at an early age, was not a factor to be ignored."
You can read all about it in the article at Geneology Today, "The Abraham Lincoln Genesis Cover-Up" by R. Vincent Enlow, 2001.
Trust a liberal troll to develop some psychological attachment to good old Tom, a worthless wife-beating, child-beating, drunken bum.
U.S. Supreme Court
THE AMY WARWICK, 67 U.S. 635 (1862)
THE BRIG AMY WARWICK.
THE SCHOONER CRENSHAW.
THE BARQUE HIAWATHA.
THE SCHOONER BRILLIANTE.
December Term, 1862
* * *
Mr. Justice GRIER.
* * *
And finally, in 1861, we find Congress 'ex majore cautela' and in anticipation of such astute objections, passing an act 'approving, legalizing, and making valid all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President, &c., as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States.' Without admitting that such an act was necessary under the circumstances, it is plain that if the President had in any manner assumed powers which it was necessary should have the authority or sanction of Congress, that on the well known principle of law, 'omnis ratihabitio retrotrahitur et mandato equiparatur,' this ratification has operated to perfectly cure the defect.67 U.S. 635, 670-1
To begin, I wish to point out that this is a lengthy decision and the authors clearly were not champions of brevity for the sake of saving an old growth forest. I will make this point relevant in short order.
The Court appears to say that Congress passed an act approving, legalizing and making valid ALL the previous acts, proclamations, and orders of President Lincoln. Let us examine that quote more closely.
Congress [passed] an act "approving, legalizing, and making valid all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President, &c.,as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States."
I have emphasized one (apparently) very short portion of the Act of Congress as it was quoted by the Supreme Court.
Please notice the &c embedded in there. That is an old fashion abbreviation for et cetera. In this case, it denotes words omitted from the Act of Congress which was being quoted. I will now present the material with the missing words restored, as it appears in the official record of the time, The Congressional Globe. Notice how the "President, &c., as" expands.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the United States, after the 4th of March, 1861, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and calling out or relating to the militia or volunteers from the States, are hereby approved, and in all respects legalized and made 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.
By my count, the Supremes took out 52 words. They did not do so for the sake of clarity, because the result is most certainly not a clarified version of the original. The debate in the legislature makes abundantly clear that the Act applies only to military appropriations and the callup of the troops. The debate assures that habeas corpus was specifically excluded from consideration by the Act.
Moreover, they did not excise the 52 words in an effort to save a tree.
The Act of Congress which passed was a bill (S. No. 72) "to increase the pay of the privates in the regular Army, and of the volunteers in the service of the United States, and for other purposes."
There was a proposed Joint Resolution (SR-1) "To approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States for suppressing insurrection and rebellion." This resolution died without a vote, and fell into such disfavor that by the end of the session its opponents were the one's clamoring for a debate on the resolution. On August 6, 1861, the last day of the special session, Illinois Senator Trumbull disposed of it before it could suffer an embarrasing vote of rejection.
On August 5, Senator Wilson attempted to introduce a new bill, S-70, with the content quoted above. Senator Wilson noted that, "The bill avoids all questions with regard to the habeas corpus and other matters, and refers simply to the military appropriations; and it is necessary we should do this in order to place that subject upon the right ground." ... "It takes but a single point, and avoids the points of debate in the joint resolution that was before the Senate, and simply legalized the action of the President which we have already indorsed, by giving him the authority. It refers merely to a point which it is very necessary for us to consider."
Senator Pearce, who had objected to the introduction of this bill because it might have applied to additional matters was assured by Senator Fessenden, "Entirely so, to those acts only."
As soon as Senator Pearce withdrew his objection, Senator Saulsbury objected.
Senator Fessenden added that, "this is a mere matter of business, and avoids all disputed points."
Senator Saulsbury commented that, "If there is anything in this bill that looks to the toleration of the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, I never will, under any circumstances, vote for it. Sir, that is the bulwark of the freedom of the citizen. If there is nothing in the bill, except to approve the calling out of volunteers --"
Senator King responded, "If the Senator will read it, he will see that there is nothing else in it."
Senator Fessenden commented, "There is nothing in the world in it except what relates to the Army and Navy volunteers. "
Senator Saulsbury withdrew his objection, Senator Powell renewed the objection, and S-70 died.
S-69, for Pay of the Troops came up and Senator Wilson proffered the quoted material as an amendment to that bill. This amendment was agreed to, the yeas and nays being 33-5.
The title of S-69 was amended to read, "A bill to increase the pay of the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the reglar Army, volunteers, marines, and seamen and ordinary seamen in the service of the United States, and for other purposes."
Senator Wilson asked "leave to introduce a new bill on the same subject, which is more restricted and guarded."
Senator Wilson then obtained leave to let S-69 lie on the table (die) and to introduce S-72 "to increase the pay of the privates in the regular Army, and of the volunteers in the service of the United States, and for other purposes."
Senator Wilson then moved to amend the bill by adding the above quoted material as an additional section of the bill. This amendment was approved with the yeas and nays being 37-5.
The bill was then reported to the Senate as amended, the amendments were concurred in, the bill was read a third time, and it passed. The yeas and nays are not shown.
It now had to go to the house, which it did on August 6, 1861.
The record in the House reads, "The bill was read a first and second time, and was ordered to a third reading. It was read the third time and passed." The yeas and nays are not shown.
Joint Resolution
To approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States for suppressing insurrection and rebellion.
This is the Joint Resolution which never came to a vote.
PAGE 438
PAY OF THE TROOPS [S-69]
Mr. WILSON. The Committee on Military Affairs and the militia have instructed me to report a bill (S. No. 69) to increase the pay of the non-commissioned officers, muscians, and privates of the regular Army, volunteers, marines, and seamen in the service of the United States.
The Bill was read a first and second time. It provides that the pay of non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the regular Army and Volunteers, and of the marines, seamen, and ordinary seamen in the service of the United States, be increased by the addition thereto of two dollars per month for three years from and after the passage of this act, and until otherwise provided by law.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. If there be no objection, the bill will be considered at the present time.
MR. KING. For the purpose of giving the Senator from Massachusetts an opportunity to propose an amendment, I move that it be laid over informally; and the Senator from Connecticut can then proceed with his report.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New York objecting, the bill cannot be considered at the present time.
The bill was laid over.
PAGE 441
ARMY AND VOLUNTEER MILITIA [S-70]
Mr. WILSON. I ask leave to introduce a bill of which, no previous notice has been given; and I should like to have it considered now, for it is very important that it should be acted upon.
The bill (S. No. 70) in relation to the Army and volunteer militia of the United States was read a first time by its title.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will now receive its second reading, if there be no objection.
Mr. PEARCE. I should like to hear the bill read at length before I consent that it shall have its second reading now. I do not think it is treating the Senate with proper consideration to have a bill read twice in one day before we know what it is. Let us see what it is; and if it be not objectionable, of course there will be no opposition to it.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The bill will be read at length for the information of the Senate.
PAGE 442
The Secretary read it as follows:
Be it enacted &c, That all the acts, proclamations and orders of the President of the United States, after the 4th of March 1861, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and calling out, or relating to the militia, or volunteers from the States, are hereby approved, and in all respect legalized and made valid, to the same intent and with the same effect as if they had been done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States.
Mr. PEARCE. I must object to its second reading to-day.
Mr. FESSENDEN. I hope my friend from Maryland will hear what I have to say before he objects. This bill takes up a single point only in the resolution that was introduced into the Senate, and upon which there has been considerable debate. It refers simply to the proclamations that were made for, and the employment of volunteers. We have since authorized the employment of the volunteers. But some of the volunteers now make a point that although they have enlisted for three years, yet the President having had no authority at that time, and no legal authority having been conferred upon him by Congress, they are discharged, and cannot be held under that enlistment. That idea will occasion considerable difficulty, and it is necessary that we should, so far as we have the power, legalize the acts of the President upon that particular point. The bill avoids all questions with regard to the habeas corpus and other matters, and refers simply to the military appropriations; and it is necessary we should do this in order to place that subject upon the right ground.
Now, sir, with regard to this bill, there can certainly be no objection that Senators can raise to it, unless they are desirous that a difficulty -- I will no say that --- but unless they fail to see the force of the position in which we are placed with reference to many of these volunteers. I hope, therefore, the Senator from Maryland will withdraw his objection. It takes but a single point, and avoids the points of debate in the joint resolution that was before the Senate, and simply legalized the action of the President which we have already indorsed, by giving him the authority. It refers merely to a point which it is very necessary for us to consider.
Mr. PEARCE. If it refers purely and solely to the volunteers, which I did not exactly understand at first, I withdraw the objection.
Mr. FESSENDEN. Entirely so; to those acts only.
Mr. SAULSBURY. I renew the objection.
Mr. WILSON. The objection is renewed, and that settles it.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware interposes objection, and the bill cannot have its second reading.
Mr. FESSENDEN. I hope the Senator from Delaware will withdraw his objection. It is a matter of importance to pass the bill today.
Mr. SHERMAN. I will state, if it is in order, to the Senator from Delaware, that it is very easy to for the chairman of the Comittee on Military Affairs to get at what he desires in a more objectionable way, by taking up the resolution that we have been discussing, which contains this and other propositions. I am very glad this proposition has come up in this way, and I take it as a matter of course, that if this bill is passed, the other joint resolution will not be called up. It is much better to pass a bill of this kind upon which everybody can vote in the affirmative, that to take up that joint resolution, about which there is so much difference of opinion.
Mr. FESSENDEN. I will add that this is a mere matter of business, and avoids all disputed points.
Mr. SAULSBURY. My objection to the bill is that I have not seen it. In regard to the joint resolution originally submitted by the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, there were acts of the President of the United States that I approved. For instance: the proclamation calling out seventy-five thousand men, if it was necessary, to defend this capital, or to defend any portion of the territory of the United States. I was in favor of that. But I have not seen this bill; and I objected to it with a view --
Mr. KING. If the Senator from Delaware will allow me to make a single statement, he will perceive that his objection is not necessary to sustain any principle of his own; nor can it prevent the passage of this proposition.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware objecting to the second reading of this bill, it lies over under the rule of the Senate, and is not now before the Senate for consideration.
Mr. KING. I desire to state to the Senator from Delaware, which he had permitted me to do, that there is a bill on the table, which is intentionally there, which will be taken up, and which will be in order, to which this proposition will be moved as an amendment if this bill is not passed; but it is better that this single isolated proposition should go through by itself, disconnected with any other matter; and it will undoubtedly be agreed to by the House. I hope, therefore, the Senator from Delaware will not persist in his objection. This proposition will be placed on the other bill as an amendment, in a moment, if the objection is persisted in; but it is better that it should be passed as a separate, isolated proposition.
Mr. SAULSBURY. I should like to accomodate my friend from New York; certainly he is very accommodating himself; but if gentlemen on the other side will indulge me a moment, I will say why it was that interposed the objection.
Mr. President, in the earlier state of this session, a joint resolution was introduced approving, in general terms, the acts of the President of the United States. For one, had not such a resolution been introduced, I never would have attacked the President of the United States for his course. I am one of those men who stand in a peculiar position on this point. I am one of those who approve of certain acts of the President, and disapprove of others. As this bill seemed to be only a mode of getting rid of a direct vote upon that joint resolution, by way of substitute, without knowing what was contained in the bill. I felt it incumbent on me to object to its consideration. If there is anything in this bill that looks to the toleration of the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, I never will, under any circumstances, vote for it. Sir, that is the bulwark of the freedom of the citizen. If there is nothing in the bill, except to approve the calling out of volunteers --
Mr. KING. If the Senator will read it, he will see that there is nothing else in it.
Mr. FESSENDEN. There is nothing in the world in it except what relates to the Army and Navy volunteers. The Senator from Maryland has just read it, and says he is perfectly satisfied.
Mr. SAULSBURY. Then on the assurance of the Senator from Maine, I will withdraw the objection.
Mr. POWELL. I renew the objection.
PAY OF THE TROOPS [S-69]
Mr. WILSON. I move to take up the bill I submitted a short time ago increasing the pay of the troops.
The motion was agreed to; and the Senate, as in Comittee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill (S. No. 69) to increase the pay of the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the regular Army, and volunteers, and marines, and seamen, and ordinary seamen, in the service of the United States.
* * *
Mr. WILSON. I now move to amend the bill by adding to it, as an additional section, the bill I sent to the chair a few moments ago:
And be it further enacted, That all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the United States, after the 4th of March, 1861, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and calling out or relating to the militia or volunteers from the States, are hereby approved, and in all respects legalized and made 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.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. That sounds a little like our joint resolution to ratify and approve and make valid and legal all the acts of the President since the 4th of March; but one or two features of it are left out. If I may so speak, I observe the absence of one or two features.
Mr. WILSON. I will say to the Senator from Kentucky, if he will allow me, that there is an absence of one or two features of the joint resolution; but as soon as we get the vote on this proposition, I will gratify him if he desires it, by moving to take up the joint resolution for the purpose of having it voted on. I should like to have it acted on to-day.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I was afraid that, in the condition of the public business, with the hurry which exists towards the close of the season, we might lose the opportunity to put our opinions on record upon that resolution. With his promise, however, to call it up for the vote of the Senate, I shall waive any observations on this amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendments were concurred in. The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, and was read the third time.
Mr. POWELL. I ask for the yeas and nays on the passage of the bill.
The yeas and the nays were ordered.
Mr. SAULSBURY. When substantially the same question was up before, I interposed an objection to its present consideration; but on the assurance of the Senator from Maine, I waived the objection. This amendment covers one thing that I cannot possibly vote for; and that is to legalize the act of the President in reference to the increase of the Army and Navy of the United States. I honestly think that that act was not legal, and that we cannot make it legal. Therefore, I shall be compelled to vote against this proposition.
The question being on the yeas and nays, resulted -- yeas 33, nays 5, as follows:
[Yeas and Nays are listed here in the record]
So the bill was passed.
[nc note: Passed as amended by the Senate. It still needed House approval of this amended version.]
On motion of Mr. WILSON, its title was amended by adding the words: "and for other purposes;" so as to make it read: "A bill to increase the pay of the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the reglar Army, volunteers, marines, and seamen and ordinary seamen in the service of the United States, and for other purposes."
PAGE 443
PAY OF THE TROOPS [S-69] [S-72]
Mr. WILSON moved to reconsider the vote by which the Senate concurred in the amendment of the House of Representatives to the bill (S. No. 69) to increase the pay of the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the regular Army, volunteers, marines, and seamen and ordinary seamen in the service of the United States, and for other purposes; and the motion was agreed to.
Mr. WILSON. I now move that the House amendment and the bill be ordered to lie on the table.
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. WILSON. I now ask leave to introduce a new bill on the same subject, which is more restricted and guarded.
Leave was granted to introduce the bill (S. No. 72) to increase the pay of the privates in the regular Army, and of the volunteers in the service of the United States, and for other purposes; which was read twice, and considered as in committee of the Whole. The bill proposes to increase the pay of the privates to thirteen dollars a month; and also extends the provisions of the act "for the relief of the Ohio and other volunteers" to all volunteers, no matter for what term of service they may have been accepted.
Mr. WILSON. I move to amend the bill by adding the following as an additional section:
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the United States, after the 4th of March, 1861, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and calling out or relating to the militia or volunteers from the States, are hereby approved, and in all respects legalized and made 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.
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE called for the yeas and nays, and they were ordered; and being taken, resulted -- yeas 37, nays 5; as follows:
[Yeas and Nays are listed here in the record]
So the amendment was agreed to.
The bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendments were concurred in. The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading; and was read the third time, and passed.
[nc note: This is passage by the Senate; it still needed to go to the House.]
PAGE 456
INCREASE OF PRIVATES' PAY [S-72]
Mr. STEVENS. I move to take from the speaker's table Senate bill No. 72, to increase the pay of the privates in the regular Army, and in the volunteers in the service of the United States, and for other purposes.
Mr. CRISFIELD. I object to the consideration of that bill.
Mr. STEVENS. I hope gentlemen will not object. If the bill cannot be passed now, there will be a called session within twenty-four hours.
Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. I desire to ask the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means a question in reference to this bill. I desire to know how this bill comes back here, after the House passed it yesterday?
Mr. STEVENS. This is a new bill.
The SPEAKER. This is an original Senate bill.
Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. We concurred in a similar bill yesterday.
Mr. MORRILL, of Vermont. I will inform the gentleman, by leave of the House. I believe this is identically the bill that passed the House, with this exception: that, instead of increasing the pay of privates four dollars per month, this bill increases it but two dollars per month. I suppose that if this bill should not pass, congress would be called back.
Mr. VALLANDIGHAM. It is very easy for the House to recde from its amendment to the bill passed yesterday; and that will leave it all right.
Mr. STEVENS. That bill, with the amendments, was lost in the Senate.
The SPEAKER. Is there any objction to taking up the bill?
Mr. CRISFIELD. I have objected to it.
PAGE 457
INCREASED PAY OF PRIVATES, ETC. [S-72]
Mr. STEVENS. I again appeal to the gentleman who objected to the consideration of the bill for increasing the pay of privates in the regular Army and of volunteers, to withdraw that objection. I understand the bill passed by this House was laid on the table in the Senate. This is a new bill which has passed the senate, and if we adjourn without passing it, it will cause very great inconvenience, and perhaps create the necessity of our being called back in antoher extra session.
Mr. CRISFIELD. I withdraw my objection.
Mr. JOHNSON. I object.
Mr. STEVENS. I move to suspend the rules.
The question was taken; and the rules were suspended, (two thirds having voted therefor.)
The bill was thereupon taken up for consideration. It proposes to increase the pay of the privates to thirteen dollars a month; and also extends the provisions of the act "for the relief of the Ohio and other volunteers": to all volunteers, no matter for what term of service they may have been accepted. It also directs that all the acts, proclamations, and orders, of the President of the United States, after the 4th of March, 1861, respecting the Army and Navy of the United States, and calling out or relating to the militia or volunteers from the States, are hereby approved and in all respects legalized and made 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.
The bill was read a first and second time, and was ordered to a third reading. It was read the third time and passed.
Mr. STEVENS moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed; and also moved to lay the motion to reconsider on the table.
The latter motion was agreed to.
[nc note: This was passage of the bill, S-72]
It appears that the real purpose of S-72 was to whitewash Lincoln's actions w/ respect to increasing the standing army and navy without Congressional action. Wilson's insistence on adding Section 3 is the clincher in this regard.
What is interesting is whether S-72 was itself constitutional, since it acquiesced in an unconstitutional series of acts, and whether the Courts could whitewash the Congress by incorporating S-72 in consideration of the Prize Cases. If they all screw with the Constitution, who's going to call them on it? Nobody. But are their acts Constitutional because the dogs didn't bark? That's an interesting precept of con law that's bound to be taken up by some tank-battalion commander some day when he parks his vehicles on the Mall in the middle of a coup.
The question still remains whether S-72 went anywhere near the suspension of habeas corpus, and apparently it did not extend to any number of measures Lincoln took, such as the blockade against Virginia and North Carolina, which were still in the Union as of the date of the blockade -- Virginia arguably, North Carolina indubitably, since their secession convention had not yet sat.
Besides the deception, ex post facto legislation is unConstitutional: Article I, § 9: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."
They also point out that the Confederacy HAD thrown off her allegiance to the US, yet then Grier calls them traitors, but per existing US law, only those persons owing allegiance to the US could be charged with treason.
It was, and still is, a very strange opinion.
Mr. Fessenden described the need for the bill: "We have since authorized the employment of the volunteers. But some of the volunteers now make a point that although they have enlisted for three years, yet the President having had no authority at that time, and no legal authority having been conferred upon him by Congress, they are discharged, and cannot be held under that enlistment. That idea will occasion considerable difficulty, and it is necessary that we should, so far as we have the power, legalize the acts of the President upon that particular point."
Speaking of the same text in S-70, Mr. FESSENDEN said, "This bill takes up a single point only... It refers simply to the proclamations that were made for, and the employment of volunteers ... The bill avoids all questions with regard to the habeas corpus and other matters, and refers simply to the military appropriations....
Also speaking of the same text in S-70:
Mr. PEARCE. If it refers purely and solely to the volunteers, which I did not exactly understand at first, I withdraw the objection.
Mr. FESSENDEN. Entirely so; to those acts only.
Mr. FESSENDEN. I will add that this is a mere matter of business, and avoids all disputed points.
Mr. FESSENDEN. There is nothing in the world in it except what relates to the Army and Navy volunteers. The Senator from Maryland has just read it, and says he is perfectly satisfied.
I'd pay $5 to hear the Prize Cases and Merryman fought out again by top legal minds (say, Jeffrey Toobin and Alan Dershowitz versus Laurence Tribe and Plato Cacheres) in front of a panel of Swiss judges. Then let's see how they come out!
4ConservativeJustices makes a good point about ex post facto legislation; in which case S-70 and S-72 were both bootless, in that the girl was already pregnant when they declared her a virgin.
S-70 was a new bill which Senator Wilson attempted to introduce, but it succumbed to objections and never came before the Senate for consideration. S-70 was proposed as being "in relation to the Army and volunteer militia." The total text of S-70 is what Wilson later offers as an Amendment. Its only applicability, explicitly stated here and in subsequent debate, was "in relation to the Army and volunteer militia."
S-69 was already in the system and when it came up (approximately the same time S-70 died), Senator Wilson succeeded in passing an Amendment to the bill. This bill was passed by the Senate, on page 442 of the record.
S-69 was ordered to lie on the table (on page 443) at the request of Senator Wilson.
S-72 was then introduced by Senator Wilson and he succeeded in passing an Amendment to S-72 with text word for word identical to what had just been passed in S-69 which was now lying on the table. S-72 was then passed as amended, with Wilson's text added. (Still on page 443)
The debate over the Wilson Amendment occurred when it was brought up for S-70 and then S-69. The text in question did not change from one bill to the next. This all occurred on the same day, August 5, 1861 and the whole thing is recorded on portions of pages 441-3. The debate renders clear the legislative intent of the Amendment.
The interpretation of the text by its proponents at S-69 and S-70 is equally applicable to S-72. It is the same people, on a single day, talking about the same precise text.
NONE of this applied to habeas corpus. Clearly, had this approved habeas corpus, the administration would not have still been begging for such approval in 1863.
Just before the war ended, Lincoln issued an order closing the ports, rather than blockading them.
From Gideon Welles, Lincoln and Johnson, First Paper, Galaxy Magazine, April 1872, p. 523
Mr. Seward, who had been uneasy since his return, [nc: Seward had been thrown from his carriage and injured] read to the Secretary of the Treasury and myself the draft of a proclamation he had prepared for the President to sign, closing the ports of the Southern States. This was a step which I had earnestly pressed at the beginning of the rebellion, as a domestic measure, and more legitimate than a blockade, which was international, and an admission that we were two nations.* * *
The President reached Washington on the evening of Sunday, the 9th of April. When I called on him the next morning he was in excellent spirits, the news of Lee’s surrender, which however was not unanticipated, having been received. While I was with him he signed the proclamation for closing the ports and expressed his gratification that Mr. Seward and myself concurred in the measure, alluding to our former differences.
OFFICIAL RECORDS: Series 3, vol 5, Part 1, page 107
(Union Letters, Orders, Reports)
VII. April 11, 1865.-Closing certain ports.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, by my proclamations of the nineteenth and twenty-seventh days of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one the ports of the United States in the State of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas were declared to be subject to blockade; but whereas, the said blockade has, in consequence of actual military occupation by this Government, since been conditionally set aside or relaxed in respect to the ports of Norfolk and Alexandria, in the State of Virginia; Beaufort, in the State of North Carolina; Port Royal, in the State of South Carolina; Pensacola and Fernandina, in the State of Florida, and New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana;
And whereas, by the fourth section of the act of Congress approved on the thirteenth of July, eighteen hundred and sixty- one; entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes," the President, for the reasons therein set forth, is authorized to close certain ports of entry:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim that the ports of Richmond, Tappahannock, Cherrystone, Yorktown, and Petersburg, in Virginia; of Camden (Elizabeth City), Edenton, Plymouth, Washington, New Berne, Ocracoke, and Wilmington, in North Carolina; of Charleston, Georgetown, and Beaufort, in South Carolina; of Savannah, Saint Mary's, and Brunswick (Darien), in Georgia; of Mobile, in Alabama; of Pearl River (Shieldsborough), Natchez, and Vicksburg, in Mississippi; of Saint Augustine, Key West, Saint Mark's (Port Leon), Saint John's (Jacksonville), and Apalachicola, in Florida; of Teche (Franklin), in Louisiana; of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago (Point Isabel), and Brownsville, in Texas, are hereby closed, and all right of importation, warehousing, and other privileges shall, in respect to the ports aforesaid, cease, until they shall have again been opened by order of the President; and if, whole said ports are so closed, any ship or vessel from beyond the United States, or having on board any articles subject to duties, furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited to the United States.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty- ninth.
[L. S.]
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.
!!! Good find.
Do you buy in to this as well?
All your bases are belong to us. Subs too.
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