Confiscation Bills.
§ 90. Confiscation bills.—July 18, 1861, Mr. Chandler and Mr. Trumbull introduced general confiscation bills in the Senate; they were both referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. In the discussion Mr. Trumbull offered as an amendment "that whenever any person claiming to be entitled to the service or labor of any other person, under the laws of any State, shall employ such person in aiding or promoting any insurrection, or in resisting the laws of the United States, or shall permit or suffer him to be so employed, he shall forfeit all right to such service or labor, and the person whose service or labor is thus claimed shall be thenceforth discharged therefrom, any law to the contrary notwithstanding."[316]
The proposition aroused considerable opposition, since it was a step far in advance of anything which had yet been done against the interests of slavery, and any proposition which advocated "an act of emancipation," however limited and qualified, was the signal for hot discussion. The opposing party announced that "nothing will come of it but more irritation,"[317] and in each crisis statesmen should "observe all possible toleration, all conciliation, all liberality."[318] Mr. Wilson upheld the opposite opinion, and thought that the time had come when this government, and the men who are in arms under the government, should cease to return their fugitive slaves to traitors.
The bill passed the Senate July 22, 1861. In the House it was amended so as to limit the negroes to be freed more strictly to those employed in military service.[319] The bill went back to the Senate, which concurred in the amendment,[320] and it received the signature of the President, August 6, 1861.[321]