Congress passes the 2nd
Confiscation Act to clarify the vague issue of whether slaves were freed under the Confiscation Act of
1861.
The Act called for any confederate who did not surrender within 60 days would have
their slaves freed. There was no action stated for what to DO with the freed
slaves, however. The 1862 Act declared that all slaves taking refuge behind the Union
lines would be freed.
The Act did provide a provision for voluntary colonization
to a tropical country, but included a clause that required the freedmen to
consent to the colonization, a clause that was passed after much controversy in
Congress.
The “emancipation gesture” applied only to rebelling states and any
slave owner who could prove loyalty to the Union would get their slaves back.
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