Julian also supported the idea of confiscating property belonging to those who rebelled against the United States, and joined other radicals to vote in favor of the Second Confiscation Act in 1862. Julian wanted the forfeited land to be divided into free homesteads and distributed among those who served in the Union military or others who aided the Union during the war. Black laborers would be among those eligible for the free homesteads. Julian also wanted these confiscations to be permanent, but Lincoln preferred to limit their duration. On March 18, 1864, Julian introduced a House bill to establish homesteads on the confiscated lands in the South. It passed the House along party lines, with a vote of 75 to 64; however, U.S. Attorney General James Speed halted the confiscations before the Senate could take up the bill.