There are two Acts under discussion this morning and we will talk about both of them in traditional numerical order. The Insurrection Act of 1807 naturally came first, since there aren’t enough numbers in the title. The Posse Comitatus Act seems older. since it uses Latin in the title, using a classic tongue to provide a statutory exception to the Insurrection Act, passed in 1807 over a generational challenge to the nature of our Constitution. Or the number of armed men in your Posse.

We did not call it an Amendment, of course, since those are likewise a little out of order. The first ten of them were celebrated this past Sunday when The National Archives celebrated Bill of Rights Day.

Ratified on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights is comprised of the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which spell out our rights as Americans. Posse Comitatus didn’t pass anything until 1878, 13 years after the Civil War drew its last ragged breath in 1865. That Posse limits the President’s ability to deploy U.S. military to enforce either civil or criminal law within the United States.

Governor Walz seemed to be asserting that, even as the President did who insists the Governor of Minnesota is doing exactly that. As you can see, it is a little out of order in case you are keeping track.

They were determined to do so back in the Days of the Founders, so that is why the numbers seem to be held at 27, which is a bunch to keep straight but if you add the Aliens, various Seditions and a host of
Acts judging lawful conduct of thirty or forty amendments- the ones without a capital “A,” since that would threaten to keep them in order. You can ask the 12th Amendment- Capital A- about that since it was passed in 1804.

So, they quit numbering the fundamental changes to our Founding Documents, except for eleven through .
the first ten changes are the Amendments, which they numbered until Alien and Sedition in 1807 which should have been the First Amendment, but that would imply a hierarchic order, like “Sedition” isn’t as important as just saying the words which mean the same thing.

Which is what Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and the President of these Untied States seem to be doing this morning. Let’s see if we can do it. 1st Amendment: Free Speech. 2nd Amendment: Free Speech except for the items of seditious intent which are forbidden, except those are also forbidden after large scale Civil insurrections that killed three-quarter of a million young soldiers. Except for the 4th one of those Acts, Capital A, which was judged unlikely enough that it was not enforced until 1805, the War of 1812, plus World Wars One and Two. Both of those are Capitalized.

If you were German, that footnote would be useful.

So, to avoid getting things out of order, the Insurrection Act of 1807 is the U.S. Federal law that empowers the President to nationally deploy the regular Army or federalize National Guard units of the individual states in specific circumstances.

Which might happen today in the case of Civil Disorder, Insurrection or Armed Rebellion. Capitals are discretionary unless you are in one of them. That seems a lot like something that might happen today, since Governors and Mayors of major jurisdictions seem to be calling for the overthrow of the elected government.

We hope your attention to the numbering and deployment of armed forces to your neighborhood is something that should be kept in order, whether you number them properly or not. We are going to take a break now. We anticipate some of this might be sorted out by this afternoon. We understand there is a call into the government in Tehran to get it sorted out as soon as possible.

We do not want to run out of numbers, Seditions, Aliens or Acts, you know?

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com