lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States,
as a _posse comitatus_ or otherwise, for the purpose of
executing the laws, except in such cases and under such
circumstances as such employment of said force may be
expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of
Congress; and no money appropriated by this act shall be used
to pay any of the expenses incurred in the employment of any
troops in violation of this section; and any person willfully
violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be
punished by fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not
exceeding two years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

This act passed the Senate, after full consideration, without a single
vote recorded against it on its final passage, and, by a majority
of more than two-thirds, it was concurred in by the House of
Representatives.

The purpose of the section quoted was stated in the Senate by one of
its supporters as follows:

Therefore I hope, without getting into any controversy about
the past, but acting wisely for the future, that we shall
take away the idea that the Army can be used by a general or
special deputy marshal, or any marshal, merely for election
purposes, as a posse, ordering them about the polls or
ordering them anywhere else, when there is an election going
on, to prevent disorders or to suppress disturbances that
should be suppressed by the peace officers of the State; or,
if they must bring others to their aid they should summon the
unorganized citizens, and not summon the officers and men of
the Army as _posse comitatus_ to quell disorders, and thus
get up a feeling which will be disastrous to peace among the
people of the country.

In the House of Representatives the object of the act of 1878 was
stated by the gentleman who had it in charge in similar terms. He
said:

But these are all minor points and insignificant questions
compared with the great principle which was incorporated by
the House in the bill in reference to the use of the Army
in time of peace. The Senate had already conceded what they
called and what we might accept as the principle, but they
had stricken out the penalty, and had stricken out the word
"_expressly_" so that the Army might be used in all cases
where _implied_ authority might be inferred. The House
committee planted