and said arrests, imprisonments, proceedings, and acts had been done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States, and in pursuance of a law thereof previously enacted and expressly authorizing and directing the same to be done. And no civil court of the United States, or of any State, or of the District of Columbia, or of any district or territory of the United States, shall have or take jurisdiction of, or in any manner reverse any of the proceedings had or acts done as aforesaid, nor shall any person be held to answer in any of said courts for any act done or omitted to be done in pursuance or in aid of any of said proclamations or orders, or by authority or with the approval of the President within the period aforesaid, and respecting any of the matters aforesaid; and all officers and other persons in the service of the United States, or who acted in aid thereof, acting in the premises shall be held prima facie to have been authorized by the President; and all acts and parts of acts heretofore passed, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. APPROVED, March 2, 1867. No. 59. Command of the Army March 2, 1867 SECTION 2 of the army appropriation act of March 2, 1867, virtually deprived the President, in certain cases, of the command of the army. The constitutionality of the provision was debated at some length, but an amendment offered in the Senate, February 26, by Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, to strike out the section was lost by a vote of 8 to 28, and other motions to the same effect failed of support. Sections 5 and 6 were added to the bill by the Senate. President Johnson approved the bill in order not to defeat the appropriations, but he entered his protest against the army provision. The section relating to the militia was repealed by acts of January 14 and March 3, 1869. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 486, 487. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The important discussion was in the Senate. An Act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and for other purposes. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the headquarters of the General of the army of the United States shall be at the city of Washington, and all orders and instructions relating to military operations issued by the President or Secretary of War shall be issued through the General of the army, and, in case of his inability, through the next in rank. The General of the army shall not be removed, suspended, or relieved from command, or assigned to duty elsewhere than at said headquarters, except at his own request, without the previous approval of the Senate; and any orders or instructions relating to military operations issued contrary to the requirements of this section shall be null and void; and any officer who shall issue orders or instructions contrary to the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor in office; and any officer of the army who shall transmit, convey, or obey any orders or instructions so issued contrary to the provisions of this section, knowing that such orders were so issued, shall be liable to imprisonment for not less than two nor more than twenty years, upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction. * SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the officers of the army and navy, and of the Freedmen's Bureau, to prohibit and prevent whipping or maiming of the person, as a punishment for any crime, misdemeanor, or offence, by any pretended civil or military authority in any State lately in rebellion until the civil government of such State shall have been restored, and shall have been recognized by the Congress of the United States. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all militia forces now organized or in service in either of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, be forthwith disbanded, and that the further organization, arming, or calling into service of the said militia forces, or any part thereof, is hereby prohibited under any circumstances whatever, until the same shall be authorized by Congress. THE annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1866 called attention to the evils of peonage in New Mexico, and urged Congress "to take the matter in hand and deal with it effectually." January 3, 1867, Sumner offered in the Senate a resolution directing the Committee on the Judiciary "to consider if any further legislation is needed to prevent the enslavement of Indians in New Mexico or any system of peonage there, and especially to prohibit the employment of the army of the United States in the surrender of persons claimed as peons." The resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. A bill to prohibit peonage, introduced January 26 by Wilson of Massachusetts, was referred to the same committee, which reported the bill on the 28th with an amendment. February 19 a substitute offered by Wilson was agreed to and the bill passed. The bill passed the House March 2. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 546. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. The proceedings in the House are unimportant. An Act to abolish and forever prohibit the System of Peonage in the Territory of New Mexico and other Parts of the United States. Be it enacted That the holding of any person to service or labor under the system known as peonage is hereby declared to be unlawful, and the same is hereby abolished and forever prohibited in the Territory of New Mexico, or in any other Territory or State of the United States; and all laws, resolutions, orders, regulations, or usages of the Territory of New Mexico, or of any other Territory or State of the United States, which have heretofore established, maintained, or enforced, or by virtue of which any attempt shall hereafter be made to establish, maintain, or enforce, directly or indirectly, the voluntary or involuntary service or labor of any persons as peons, in liquidation of any debt or obligation, or otherwise, be, and the same are hereby, declared null and void; and any person or persons who shall hold, arrest, or return, or cause to be held, arrested, or returned, or in any manner aid in the arrest or return of any person or persons to a condition of peonage, shall, upon conviction, be punished by fine not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not less than one nor more than five years, or both, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all persons in the military or civil service in the Territory of New Mexico to aid in the enforcement of the foregoing section of this act; and any person or persons who shall obstruct or attempt to obstruct, or in any way interfere with, or prevent the enforcement of this act, shall be liable to the pains and penalties hereby provided; and any officer or other person in the military service of the United States who shall so offend, directly or indirectly, shall, on conviction before a court-martial, be dishonorably dismissed the service of the United States, and shall thereafter be ineligible to reappointment to any office of trust, honor, or profit under the government. APPROVED, March 2, 1867. No. 61. Payments to Disloyal Persons March 2, 1867 A BILL to prohibit payments to disloyal persons was introduced in the House, December 20, 1866, by Columbus Delano of Ohio, and passed the same day. February 23, 1867, the Senate added the proviso of the act as an amendment. A conference committee settled the final form of the bill. REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 571. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 39th Cong., 2d Sess., and the Cong. Globe. There was little discussion of the merits of the bill. Joint Resolution prohibiting Payment by any Officer of the Government to any Person not known to have been opposed to the Rebellion and in favor of its Suppression. Resolved That until otherwise ordered it shall be unlawful for any officer of the United States government to pay any account, claim, or demand against said government, which accrued or existed prior to the thirteenth day of April, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-one, in favor of any person who promoted, encouraged, or in any manner sustained the late rebellion; or in favor of any person who, during said rebellion, was not known to be opposed thereto, and distinctly in favor of its suppression; and no pardon heretofore granted, or hereafter to be granted, shall authorize the payment of such account, claim, or demand, until this resolution is modified or repealed: Provided, That this resolution shall not be construed to prohibit the payment of claims founded upon contracts made by any of the departments, where such claims were assigned or contracted to be assigned prior to April first, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, to creditors of said contractors, loyal citizens of loyal States, in payment of debts incurred prior to March first, eighteen hundred and sixty-one. APPROVED, March 2, 1867. No. 62. Second Reconstruction Act March 23, 1867 By a resolution of March 7, 1867, the House Committee on the Judiciary were instructed "to report a bill declaring who shall call conventions for the reorganization of the rebel States, and providing for the registration of voters within said rebel States, and all elections for members of said conventions, or for the adoption or rejection of constitutions formed by said conventions, or for the choice of public officers, State and municipal, until the constitutions of said States shall have been approved by Congress, shall be by ballot." A bill in accordance with the resolution was reported March 11, and passed the same day, the vote being 117 to 27, 16 not voting. The Senate Committee on the |