...with these laws was the US Criminal Code which made illegal any activity that "provides or prepares the means for any military expedition or enterprise...be carried on from thence against the territory or dominions of any foreign province or state or people . . .with whom the United States are at peace."...

...laws were reenacted by the act of April, 1818, by which, amongst other things, it was declared thatIf any person shall, within the territory or jurisdiction...be carried on from thence against the territory or dominions of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people, with whom the United...

...authority. Ever since 1794 the statutes had not only made it a crime for anyone in the United States to "begin or set on foot or provide or prepare the means for any military expedition or enterprise" against any state or sovereign "with whom the United States are at peace"—which despite its opaque...