The Civil War Confiscation Acts: Failing to Reconstruct the South (Reconstructing America) (NO. 10)

This book is the first full account in more than 20 years of two significant, but relatively understudied, laws passed during the Civil War. The Confiscation Acts (1861-62) were designed to sanction slave holding states by authorizing the Federal Government to seize rebel properties (including land and other assets held in Northern and border states) and grant freedom to slaves who fought with or worked for the Confederate military. Abraham Lincoln objected to the Acts for fear they might push border states, particularly Missouri and Kentucky, into secession. The Acts were eventually rendered moot by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. John Syrett examines the political contexts of the Acts, especially the debates in Congress, and demonstrates how the failure of the confiscation acts during the war presaged the political and structural shortcomings of Reconstruction after the war.

This book is the first full account in more than 20 years oftwo significant, but relatively understudied, laws passedduring the Civil War. The Confiscation Acts (1861-62) weredesigned to sanction slave holding states by authorizing theFederal Government to seize rebel properties (includingland and other assets held in Northern and border states)and grant freedom to slaves who fought with or worked forthe Confederate military.Abraham Lincoln objected to the Acts for fear they mightpush border states, particularly Missouri and Kentucky, intosecession. The Acts were eventually rendered moot by theEmancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment.John Syrett examines the political contexts of the Acts,especially the debates in Congress, and demonstrates howthe failure of the confiscation acts during the war presagedthe political and structural shortcomings of Reconstructionafter the war.

Syrett examines the role of the 1861-1862 First and Second Confiscation Acts, which authorized the Union federal government to seize Confederate properties, land, and assets. President Abraham Lincoln and his Attorney General, Edward Bates, eventually objected to the acts because they failed to restructure property holdings as much as emphasize Northern dominance. They also freed Southern blacks working for the Confederacy, causing great consternation. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment later made the acts moot, Syrett notes that they had lasting effects on racial and class relations during the Reconstruction and beyond The First Confiscation Act The Second Confiscation Act: the act and its opponents The second act : divided Republican support and flawed result Enforcement of the second act : Lincoln and bates Early military confiscation Rules of war and later military confiscation The Treasury's part in confiscation The politics of confiscation Andrew Johnson and the end of confiscation Confiscation and the courts : jurisdiction and procedures Confiscation and the courts : constitutionality and duration. This book is an account of two significant laws passed during the US Civil War, The Confiscation Acts (1861-62). It examines their political contexts, especially the debates in Congress, and demonstrates how the failure of the confiscation acts during the war presaged the political and structural shortcomings of Reconstruction after the war.