Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United StatesCrosby, Frank
History
Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States
Crosby, Frank
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
“‘_Article --._ All officers or persons of the military or naval
service of the United States, are prohibited from employing any
of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of
returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from
any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due;
and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of
violating this article shall be dismissed from the service.
“‘_Section 2._ And be it further enacted, That this act shall take
effect from and after its passage.’
“Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled, ‘An act
to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to
seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for other purposes,’
approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and
figures following:
“‘_Section 9._ And be it further enacted, That all slaves of
persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the
government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid
or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge
within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such
persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the
government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons
found on (or being within) any place occupied by rebel forces and
afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall
be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their
servitude, and not again held as slaves.
“_Section 10._ And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping
into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any
of the States, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or
hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against
the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make
oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive
is alleged to be due, is his lawful owner, and has not been in
arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in
any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in
the military or naval service of the United States shall, under
any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the
claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person,
or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being
dismissed from the service.
“And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons engaged in the
military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey
and enforce within their respective spheres of service, the act and
sections above recited.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account