"Whereas, Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, has, by Proclamation, announced the intention of invading this Confederacy with an armed force for the purpose of capturing its fortresses, and thereby subverting its independence, and subjecting the free people thereof to the dominion of a foreign power; and whereas it has thus become the duty of this Government to expel the threatened invasion, and to defend the rights and liberties of the people by all the means which the laws of nations, and the usages of civilized warfare, place at its disposal:
...make application for commissions or Letters of Marque and Reprisal, to be issued under the Seal of these Confederate States...."
This was big news, equal to Lincoln's call; and in such papers as the Charelston Mercury, questioned whether Davis had the Constitional power to do so. The Provisional Confederate Constitution gave that power specifically to Congress.
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David Upton