1863 - Floridians, like most Southerners, reacted angrily today when the Confederate Congress approved the Impressment Act on this date, which allowed Confederate tax collectors to impress food and other articles useful to the Confederacy.” The act was an attempt to regulate the already common Confederate army practice of impressing supplies including food and slaves.  The legislation turned out to cause more strife when government pricing for impressed goods was demonstrably lower than their market value.