UNITED STATES. 



803 



Whereas, Many persons who had so engaged in 

 said rebellion have, since the issuance of saiof proc. 

 lamations, failed or neglected to take the benefits 

 offered thereby; and 



Whereas, Many persons who have been justly de- 

 prived of all claim to amnesty and pardon thereunder, 

 by reason of their participation directly or by impli- 

 cation in said rebellion, and continued in hostility to 

 the Government of the United States since the date 

 of said proclamation, now desire to apply for and 

 obtain amnesty, and pardon : 



To the end, therefore, that the authority of the 

 Government of the United States may be restored, 

 and that peace, order, and freedom may be reestab- 

 lished, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United 

 States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant 

 to all persons who have directly or indirectly par- 

 ticipated in the existing rebellion, except as herein- 

 after excepted, amnesty and pardon, with restora- 

 tion of all rights of property, except as to slaves, 

 and except in cases where legal proceedings under 

 the laws of the United States providing for the con- 

 fiscation of property of persons engaged in rebellion 

 have been instituted; but on the condition, never- 

 theless, that every such person shall take and sub- 

 scribe the following oath or affirmation, and thence- 

 forward keep and maintain said oath inviolate, and 

 which oath shall be registered for permanent preser- 

 vation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, 

 to wit : 



I, , do solemnly swear, or affirm, in presence 



of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support 

 and defend the Constitution of the United States and the 

 Union of the States thereunder, and that I will, in like man- 

 ner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclama- 

 tions which have been made during the existing rebellion 

 with reference to the emancipation ot slaves, so help me God. 



The following classes of persons are excepted from 

 the benefits of this proclamation : 



1. All who are or shall have been pretended civil 

 or diplomatic officers, or otherwise domestic or for- 

 eign agents, of the pretended Confederate Govern- 

 ment. 



2. All who left judicial stations under the United 

 States to aid the rebellion. 



3. All who shall have been military or naval officers 

 of said pretended Confederate Government above the 

 rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy. 



4. All who left seats in the Congress of the United 

 States to aid the rebellion. 



5. All who resigned or tendered resignations of 

 their commissions in the army or navy ot the United 

 States to evade duty in resisting the rebellion. 



6. All who have engaged in any way in treating 

 otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war persons 

 found in the United States service as officers, soldiers, 

 seamen, or in other capacities. 



7. All persons who have been or are absentees 

 from the United States for the purpose of aiding the 

 rebellion. 



8. All military and naval officers' in the rebel ser- 

 vice who were educated by the Government in the 

 Military Academy at West Point or the United States 

 Naval Academy. 



9. All persons who held the pretended offices of 

 Governors of States in insurrection against the 

 United States. 



10. All persons who left their homes within the 

 jurisdiction and protection of the United States, and 

 passed beyond the Federal military lines into the so- 

 called Confederate States, for the purpose of aiding 

 the rebellion. 



11. All persons who have been engaged in the de- 

 struction of the commerce of the United States upon 

 the high seas, and all persons who have made raids 

 into the United States from Canada, or been engaged 

 in destroying the commerce of the United States upon 

 the lakes and rivers that separate the British Prov- 

 inces from the United States. 



12. All persons who, at the time when they seek to 



obtain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein 

 prescribed, are in military, naval, or civil confinement 

 or custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or 

 naval authorities or agents of the United States as 

 prisoners of war, or persons detained for offences of 

 any kind either before or after conviction. 



13. All persons who have voluntarily participated 

 in said rebellion, and the estimated value of whose 

 taxable property is over twenty thousand dollars. 



14. All persons who have taken the oath of amnesty 

 as prescribed in the President's proclamation of De- 

 cember 8, A. D. 1863, or an oath of allegiance to the 

 Government of the United States since the date of 

 said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward 

 kept and maintained the same inviolate provided, 

 that special application maybe made to the President 

 for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted 

 classes, and such clemency will be liberally extended 

 as may be consistent with the facts of the case and 

 the peace and dignity of the United States. 



The Secretary of S'tate will establish rules and reg- 

 ulations for administering and recording the said 

 amnesty oath, so as to insure its benefit to the people, 

 and guard the Government against fraud. 



In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 



Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-ninth 

 day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand 

 eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the independence 

 of the United States the eighty-ninth. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



At the same time an order issued from the 

 State Department saying that the oath pre- 

 scribed in the proclamation might he taken and 

 subscribed before any commissioned .officer, 

 civil, military, or naval, in the service of the 

 United States, or any military or civil officer 

 of a loyal State or Territory, who, by the laws 

 thereof, might be qualified for administering 

 oaths. All officers who received such oaths 

 were authorized to give certified copies thereof 

 to persons respectively by whom they were 

 made, and such officers were required to trans- 

 mit the original to the department where they 

 were deposited. A register thereof is kept in. 

 the department, and on application, in proper 

 cases, certificates are issued of such records in 

 the customary form of official certificates. Re- 

 fusing entirely to recognize the authority of 

 any person holding a civil office in the States 

 while at war against the Federal Government, 

 President Johnson subsequently appointed Pro- 

 visional Governors for the States of North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala- 

 bama, Mississippi, and Texas, with authority to 

 assemble in the State delegates elected by the 

 people who had taken the amnesty oath, or 

 who had opposed secession, in convention, and 

 amend and alter the State constitution, reap- 

 point or designate local officers, and secure the 

 election of State officers and a Legislature and 

 members of Congress under the amended con- 

 stitutions. If this reorganization was sustained 

 and approved by the mass of the people, the 

 State civil government became established in 

 unison with the Federal Union. If it was not 

 so sustained, a military force was at hand to 

 lend the necessary support. Such was the 

 plan of the President. It was peacefully ac- 

 quiesced in by the inhabitants of those States, 

 as stated in. other pages of this volume. For 



