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Anti-peonAge Act, mArcH 2, 1867 U.S. Statutes at Large 14:546. Peonage is a form of debt slavery. A laborer who owes a debt is held to service in a slave-like status because of the monetary debt owed to another. After the Civil War, peonage appeared among the labor force in New mexico and in parts of the South when blacks were arrested, usually for “vagrancy,” and could not pay the fine. The laborer would then be hired out to an employer to work off this debt. In effect, peonage became another form for involuntary servitude. This act outlawed the practice and did so not only in New mexico, but “in any other Territory or State of the united States”; thus nationally. Holding a person as a peon became a felony under this often overlooked act that advanced individual liberty. Chap. ClXXXVII.—An Act to establish and forever prohibit the System of peonage in the territory of New Mexico and other Parts of the United States. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the holding of any person to service or labor under the system known as peonage is hereby declared to be unlawful, and the same is hereby abolished and forever prohibited in the territory of New mexico, or in any other Territory or State of the united States; and all acts, laws, resolutions , orders, regulations, or usages of the Territory of New mexico, or of any other Territory or State of the united States, which have heretofore established, maintained, or enforced, or by virtue of which any attempt shall hereafter be made to establish, maintain, or enforce, directly or indirectly, the voluntary or involuntary service or labor of any persons as peons, in liquidation of any debt or obligation, or otherwise, be, and the same are hereby, declared null and void; and any person or persons who shall hold, arrest, or return, or cause to be held, arrested, or returned, or in any manner aid in the arrest or return of any person or persons to a condition of peonage, shall, upon conviction, be punished by fine not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not less than one nor more than five years, or both, at the discretion of the court. Documentary History of the American Civil War era 222 Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all persons in the military or civil service of the Territory of New mexico to aid in the enforcement of the foregoing section of this act; and any person or persons who shall obstruct or attempt to obstruct, or in any way interfere with, or prevent the enforcement of this act, shall be liable to the pains and penalties hereby provided; and any officer or other person in the military service of the united States who shall so offend, directly or indirectly, shall, on conviction before a court-martial, be dishonorably dismissed [from] the service of the united States, and shall thereafter be ineligible to reappointment to any office of trust, honor, or profit under the government. Approved, march 2, 1867. ...

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