UNITED STATES. 



753 



Three States, Mississippi, Virginia, and Tex- 

 as, gave no vote for President. The whole 

 number of votes given was 5,716,082, and the 

 majority of General U. S. Grant, 309,684. 



Two amnesty proclamations were issued by 

 President Johnson during the year. By the first, 

 all persons were pardoned except those under 

 presentment or indictment in any court of the 

 United States having competent jurisdiction. 

 It was as follows : 



Whereas, in the month of July, A. D. 1861, in ac- 

 cepting the condition of civil war, which was brought 

 about by insurrection and rebellion in several of the 

 States which constitute the United States, the two 

 Houses of Congress did solemnly declare that the war 

 was not waged on the part of the Government in any 

 spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest 

 or subjugation, nor for any purpose of overthrowing 

 or interfering with the rights or established institu- 

 tions of the States, but only to defend and maintain 

 the supremacy of the Constitution of the United 

 States, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, 

 equality, and rights of the several States -unimpaired ; 

 and that, so soon as these objects should be accom- 

 plished, the war on the part of the Government should 



And whereas the President of the United States has 

 heretofore, in the spirit of that declaration, and with 

 the view of securing for it ultimate and complete 

 effect, set forth several proclamations, offering am- 

 nesty and pardon to persons who had been or were 

 concerned in the aforesaid rebellion, which proclama- 

 tions, however, were attended with prudential reser- 

 vations and exceptions then deemed necessary and 

 proper, and which proclamations were respectively 

 issued on the 8th day of December, 1863, on the 26th 

 day of March, 1864, on the 29th day of May, 1865, 

 and on the 7th day of September, 1867 ; 

 VOL. vni. 48 A 



And whereas the said lamentable civil war has long 

 since altogether ceased, with an acknowledged guar- 

 antee to all the States of the supremacy of the Fed- 

 eral Constitution and the Government thereunder ; 

 and there no longer exists any reasonable ground to 

 apprehend a renewal of the said civil war, or any 

 foreign interference, or any unlawful resistance by 

 any portion of the people of any of the States to the 

 Constitution and laws of the United States ; 



And whereas, it is desirable to reduce the standing 

 army, and to bring to a speedy termination military 

 occupation, martial law, military tribunals, abridg- 

 ment of freedom of speech and of the press, and sus- 

 pension of the privilege of habeas corpus, and the 

 right of trial by jury such encroachments upon our 

 free institutions in times of peace being dangerous to 

 public liberty, incompatible with the individual 

 rights of the citizens, contrary to the genius and 

 spirit of our republican form of government, and ex- 

 haustive of the national resources ; 



And whereas, it is believed that amnesty and par- 

 don will tend to secure a complete and universal es- 

 tablishment and prevalence of municipal law and 

 order, in conformity with the Constitution of the 

 United States, and to remove all appearances or pre- 

 sumptions of a retaliatory or vindictive policy on the 

 part of the Government, attended by unnecessary 

 disqualifications, pains, penalties, confiscations, and 

 disfranchisements ; and, on the contrary, to promote 

 and procure complete fraternal reconciliation among 

 the whole people, with due submission to the Con- 

 stitution and laws : 



Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew John- 

 son, President of the United States, do, by virtue of 

 the Constitution and in the name or the people of the 

 United States, hereby proclaim and declare, uncon- 

 ditionally and without reservation, to all and to every 

 person who directly or indirectly participated in the 

 late insurrection or rebellion, excepting such person 

 or persons as may be under presentment or indict- 

 ment in any court of the United States having com- 



