The Neutrality Act of 1794 as amended authorized the president of the United States to use military force to prevent an unauthorized “military expedition or enterprise” against another country. Ford again invoked the threat of federal intervention against the Mormons in December 1845. (An Act in Addition to the “Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States,” and to Repeal the Acts Therein Mentioned [20 Apr. 1818], Public Statutes at Large, 15th Cong., 1st Sess., chap. 88, p. 449, sec. 8; “Part 4: January 1846.”)
The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. . . . Edited by Richard Peters. 8 vols. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846–1867.