THE FREEDMEN OF 1861 THAT FREED THEMSELVES

The Original Freedmen freed themselves BEFORE emancipation and Juneteenth. Here are the receipts:

NOTE: Confederate states separate from the United States of America April 1861. At that time every person in the US supporting the Confederacy renounced their citizenship.

Confiscation Act of 1861, enacted August 6, 1861.

“... the federal government shall have the right to seize property being used to support Confederates and rebels.”

Comment: This included enslaved persons such that Freedmen actually are a reality as early as 1861.

Confiscation Act of 1862, enacted July 17, 1862.

-federal government shall free slaves in rebel territories.

-prohibition of returning fugitive slaves.

-confiscation of Confederate and rebel property through court action.

-Union Army shall recruit former slaves.

Comment: Freedmen began to take confiscated land as homestead.

The Militia Act of 1862, enacted on July 17, 1862.

“Any man or boy of African descent, who shall render such service as is provided for in this act, he, his mother and his wife and children, shall forever thereafter be free.”

-Freedmen can participate in militias.

-equal pay for Freedmen militiamen.

-Freedmen enlistment overseen by the states (Kansas).

Comment: Freedmen came from all over the country for Freedom Certificates for themselves and their families. Our ancestors freed themselves.

NOTE: People who swore an allegiance to the confederacy or a rebel organization was required to pledge an Oath of Amnesty to rejoin the United States as a citizens AND promise Not to engage in slavery again.