Analysis: Presidential Proclamations on Blockade and Commercial Trade No. 81, No. 82, and No. 86

Date: 1861

Author: Lincoln, Abraham

Genre: law

Summary Overview

At the start of the Civil War, US president Abraham Lincoln, facing the secession of several Southern states, determined that the seceding states should be isolated and their collective economies stifled. The vehicle the Union would use to achieve this end was an extensive naval blockade of all ports participating in the rebellion. Not long after issuing his first proclamation of this blockade, the president issued two additional declarations, increasing the breadth of the blockade as well as the severity of punishment for those who attempted to smuggle goods past it. Lincoln’s establishment of this blockade ultimately helped to shorten the Civil War’s length and prevent foreign involvement in the conflict.

Document Analysis

Even before taking office in March 1861, Lincoln was faced with a harsh reality. South Carolina, which saw Lincoln’s supposed opposition to slavery as a threat to its economy, voted to cease its “membership” in the United States in December of 1860. Several other states, inspired by South Carolina’s move, followed suit early in 1861. The push for Southern secession had sparked dangerous confrontations between Union troops stationed in these states and the rebel forces living there. Lincoln’s predecessor as president, James Buchanan, had told his troops to stand their ground, even when operating in siege conditions, as they were at Fort Sumter. Lincoln, upon assuming office, authorized the troops at that island fort to surrender their positions but by no means wanted to allow the secession to continue unanswered.

One month after his inauguration, Lincoln—after consulting with his cabinet—decided to take a major step to cut off the secessionists’ economic lifelines. He did so through a series of proclamations, presidential statements that institute the necessary measures to deal with particular situations. In these documents, he declares that a civil war is at hand, one that threatened to tear apart the Union. A blockade was necessary to contain and defeat the growing rebellion. Lincoln looked to Congress to support this policy, encouraging the legislature to implement any legislation necessary to ensure that the blockade was imposed efficiently and effectively. He also looked to his own administration, including the military, federal attorneys, and other officials, urging them to do their respective parts to maintain the blockade’s integrity and that of the Union.

Proclamation 81

On April 19, 1861, Lincoln issued the first of these documents. In the first line of proclamation 81, he declares that the government of the United States faced an open insurrection in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Lincoln speaks initially to the fact that this insurrection directly affected the Union’s ability to collect tax revenue from its citizens, a provision established in the US Constitution. His list of grievances against these states, however, begins to grow from this statement.

For example, he accuses the seceding states of threatening to practice piracy against the Union’s maritime commercial pursuits. He claims that the states were willing to use “pretended” letters of marque, written documents authorizing privateers to attack, capture, or loot Union ships. Letters of marque were commonly used throughout maritime history, particularly during times of open war, and the US Constitution granted Congress the ability to issue such letters. The government of the Confederacy likewise claimed the ability to grant letters of marque, but as the United States did not consider the Confederate government to be legitimate, the seceded states were thus, in Lincoln’s view, attempting to claim a power they did not have. To make matters worse, he writes, these seven states were threatening to use this power against the “good citizens” of the United States as they engaged in lawful commerce in their own waters.

Lincoln proclaims that the individuals committing these acts—the members of the seceding states—must cease their actions and calls for the US military to deploy and “repress” the rebels. In the interest of the public peace and safety, and with the integrity of the United States at stake, he writes, Congress must take into account the “unlawful proceedings” of the Southern states. He states that he believes it necessary to place a blockade around the ports of each of the states that has seceded. A navy force would be present to prevent any ships from entering or exiting these harbors. Any unauthorized ship caught in these waterways would be detained, examined, and cataloged. That ship would then be issued a formal warning not to repeat its actions and released. If the ship again tried to enter or leave a blockaded port, it would be captured and its crew prosecuted. Any cargo of value seized would be considered a prize (a ship and its cargo captured during war) and redistributed among Union circles.

Furthermore, he writes that any individual or group claiming to have the national authority (such as that of the United States or another legitimate country) to attack the interests of the federal government at sea would be captured and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This statement serves as a warning to two audiences. First, it is a caution to any foreign party who may become involved in privateering against American ships using the aforementioned fraudulent letters of marque. Second and more importantly, it speaks to the secessionists themselves, advising them that the United States government will not tolerate any Rebel attacks on its ships.

Proclamation 82

Although Lincoln’s first proclamation issues a stern warning to the secessionists not to attack American interests, they did not capitulate. In proclamation 82, issued just over a week after Lincoln declared the blockade, the president states that a number of Union officials who were simply collecting taxes and performing other duties as ordered by Washington had been arrested in North Carolina and Virginia and detained without due process of law. Their captors, Lincoln writes, claimed to be acting under the authority of the governments of their respective states. Virginia had only two months earlier opted to remain with the Union and seek a compromise with the new Lincoln administration. However, the state’s government soon changed its position, and Virginia broke away from the United States on April 17. Its capital, Richmond, soon became the capital of the Confederacy.

North Carolina also remained on the sidelines early, seeking some sort of compromise with the federal government. However, after Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 troops on April 15, North Carolina refused to provide its share of volunteers. Although the state did not officially secede from the Union until the next month, North Carolina’s leadership had already made the decision to defy the federal government, placing that state squarely on the side of the secessionists. Because of these actions on the part of the states, proclamation 82 extends the blockade to Virginia and North Carolina’s ports as well.

The next few months saw a series of major changes that would shape the Civil War. In June, the western counties of Virginia took issue with the state government’s decision to secede and in turn seceded from the Confederacy. This region was admitted into the Union on June 20, taking the name of West Virginia. Meanwhile, the Union continued a long-running series of political maneuvers to prevent many of the slave states from joining the Confederacy. These efforts proved fruitful, as Delaware, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland remained part of the Union. In July, Union and Confederate militias met on the battlefield for the first time at Manassas, Virginia, in the First Battle of Bull Run, wherein an untrained Union Army was forced to retreat in the face of an overwhelming infusion of Confederate reinforcements. Meanwhile, Lincoln’s blockade was finally in place, with improved naval vessels enforcing it against smaller, faster smuggling ships known as blockade runners. In addition to implementing the blockade, Congress on July 13 declared the Confederate States to be in an official state of insurrection against the United States.

Proclamation 86

On August 16, Lincoln issued proclamation 86, which speaks to effect of the above developments on the wartime situation. He states that he was within his rights as president when he called for the 75,000 troops to meet what was clearly an “insurrection against the laws, Constitution, and Government of the United States.” He cites the Militia Act of 1795, passed by Congress to validate the actions of president George Washington, who had raised a militia to put down the Whiskey Rebellion the previous year. Despite Lincoln’s use of the presidential power given him by Congress, however, the Confederate insurrection had continued and spread into Tennessee, Arkansas, and other states.

Lincoln notes that the Rebels had been operating as if they were subject solely to the authority of the state governments. These governments, on the other hand, had done nothing to deny this perceived sovereignty. Furthermore, although the rebels had clearly been operating against the laws of the United States, the state governments claiming authority over them had done nothing to suppress the insurrection.

Since Congress had joined Lincoln in identifying the eleven insurgent states (excluding West Virginia, which Lincoln notes refused to join and in fact was taking steps to combat the insurgency), Lincoln felt empowered to elevate the effort against the Confederacy. His first move in this proclamation is to declare commerce with the secessionist states illegal until the end of the war. Any goods, merchandise, or other items brought into the Union by land or sea from these states or vice versa—unless granted an exemption by the president or his administration—would be “forfeited to the United States.” Furthermore, any Confederate ships caught transporting people or goods into or out of the Union would also be confiscated. Once the blockade was in place, any unauthorized ship found attempting to travel between the United States and the Confederate ports in question would be captured and its cargo distributed in the Union.

Lincoln applied the full weight of his power to these proclamations and the blockade itself. At his disposal were not only the US Navy and the War Department but also law enforcement, including marshals and district attorneys, and the US Treasury. Lincoln mentions this last agency because of its responsibilities in collecting and processing revenues. Much of Lincoln’s argument against the secessionist movement, as seen in these proclamations, was based on the fact that the states involved would cease to collect federal tax revenues and pay their federal obligations. The Treasury would thus recoup lost revenues by liquidating any confiscated ships and contraband. Implicit is the notion that once a blockade runner was captured by the Union, any item of value seized would not be returned to the perpetrator as long as the war persisted.

At the end of proclamation 86, Lincoln attempt to show flexibility with regard to specific cases. For example, he suggests that parties detained for violating the blockade may, if they feel mistreated by the charges levied against them, appeal directly to the Treasury Department. The treasury would, Lincoln writes, have the authority to review each case thoroughly and drop the charges in special cases. Lincoln also leaves open the possibility that the suspension of commerce between Union and secessionist states could be exempted if the latter “maintain[ed] a loyal adhesion” to the former. The newly created state of West Virginia, cited in proclamation 86, provides an example of how a state may benefit economically from this declaration of loyalty. If a state wanted to avoid suffering from a lack of commerce with the Union, it could simply reverse course, rejoin the Union, and immediately return to economic vitality.

Nevertheless, it was Lincoln’s intention to apply a strict, extensive, and far-reaching blockade that would weaken the maritime-reliant economies of the Southern states that declared themselves sovereign. In fact, the breakaway states had by this point not only seceded, an act that itself was illegal in Lincoln’s view, but also taken up arms against the military and civilian agents of the federal government. Lincoln and his cabinet believed that the war could be ended if the Confederacy’s maritime supply and revenue lines were cut. The only way to ensure the efficacy of such a policy was to apply the blockade in the strictest manner possible.

Bibliography

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