On July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act — a law that reshaped both freedom and federal power during the Civil War.
It declared enslaved people owned by Confederate supporters to be “forever free” and prohibited their return under federal authority. In Union-occupied Alexandria, where thousands of freedom seekers had taken refuge, this marked a decisive shift from temporary “contraband” status toward legally protected emancipation.
But the Act also strengthened federal confiscation authority — part of a deliberate legislative sequence that included the First Confiscation Act of 1861 and the Doolittle amendment, collectively dismantling the property rights of Confederate supporters across occupied territory and enabling the seizure of secessionist holdings on a sweeping scale.
That authority helped enable the seizure of Arlington, the estate of Mary Lee. Her cousin, Philip Richard Fendall II — now buried in Alexandria’s Presbyterian Cemetery — attempted to pay the property tax in person. The government refused the payment, and the estate was taken.
Arlington became Freedmen’s Village and, ultimately, Arlington National Cemetery.
Years later, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Lee that the seizure had been unlawful — a case tied to Alexandria attorney Francis Lee Smith, also buried in Alexandria’s Presbyterian Cemetery.
One federal act.
Freedom expanded.
Property seized.
Power challenged.
Read more: Rebuffed in Attempt to Pay Tax on Arlington House →