The first Confiscation Act, passed on Aug. 6, 1861, authorized Union seizure of rebel property, and it stated that all slaves who fought with or worked for the Confederate military services were freed of further obligations to their masters.

President Abraham Lincoln objected to the act on the basis that it might push border states, especially Kentucky and Missouri, into secession in order to protect slavery within their boundaries.

He later convinced Congress to pass a resolution providing compensation to states that initiated a system of gradual emancipation, but the border states failed to support this plan. And Lincoln repudiated the position of Generals John C. Frémont and David Hunter, who proclaimed that the first Confiscation Act was tantamount to a decree of emancipation.

The second Confiscation Act, passed July 17, 1862, was virtually an emancipation proclamation. It said that slaves of civilian and military Confederate officials “shall be forever free,” but it was enforceable only in areas of the South occupied by the Union Army.

President Lincoln was again concerned about the effect of an antislavery measure on the border states and again urged these states to begin gradual compensated emancipation.