Whereas in the month of July, A.D. 1861, the two Houses of Congress,
with extraordinary unanimity, solemnly declared that the war then
existing was not waged on the part of the Government in any spirit of
oppression nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose
of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of the States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy
of the Constitution and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity,
equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired, and that as soon
as these objects should be accomplished the war ought to cease; and
Whereas the President of the United States, on the 8th day of December,
A.D. 1863, and on the 26th day of March, A.D. 1864, did, with the
objects of suppressing the then existing rebellion, of inducing all
persons to return to their loyalty, and of restoring the authority of
the United States, issue proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to
all persons who had, directly or indirectly, participated in the then
existing rebellion, except as in those proclamations was specified and
reserved; and
Whereas the President of the United States did on the 29th day of May,
A.D. 1865, issue a further proclamation, with the same objects before
mentioned, and to the end that the authority of the Government of the
United States might be restored and that peace, order, and freedom might
be established, and the President did by the said last-mentioned
proclamation proclaim and declare that he thereby granted to all persons
who had, directly or indirectly, participated in the then existing
rebellion, except as therein excepted, amnesty and pardon, with
restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and except
in certain cases where legal proceedings had been instituted, but upon
condition that such persons should take and subscribe an oath therein
prescribed, which oath should be registered for permanent preservation;
and
Whereas in and by the said last-mentioned proclamation of the 29th
day of May, A.D. 1865, fourteen extensive classes of persons therein
specially described were altogether excepted and excluded from the
benefits thereof; and
Whereas the President of the United States did, on the 2d day of April,
A.D. 1866, issue a proclamation declaring that the insurrection was at
an end and was thenceforth to be so regarded; and
Whereas there now exists no organized armed resistance of misguided
citizens or others to the authority of the United States in the
States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee,
Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, and the
laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil
authority, State or Federal, and the people of said States are well and
loyally disposed, and have conformed, or, if permitted to do so, will
conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out
of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting
slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States; and
Whereas there no longer exists any reasonable ground to apprehend within
the States which were involved in the late rebellion any renewal thereof
or any unlawful resistance by the people of said States to the
Constitution and laws of the United States; and
Whereas large standing armies, military occupation, martial law,
military tribunals, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of
_habeas corpus_ and the right of trial by jury are in time of peace
dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of
the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions,
and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore,
to be sanctioned or allowed except in cases of actual necessity for
repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion; and
Whereas a retaliatory or vindictive policy, attended by unnecessary
disqualifications, pains, penalties, confiscations, and disfranchisements,
now, as always, could only tend to hinder reconciliation among the people
and national restoration, while it must seriously embarrass, obstruct,
and repress popular energies and national industry and enterprise; and
Whereas for these reasons it is now deemed essential to the public
welfare and to the more perfect restoration of constitutional law and
order that the said last-mentioned proclamation so as aforesaid issued
on the 29th day of May, A.D. 1865, should be modified, and that the full
and beneficent pardon conceded thereby should be opened and further
extended to a large number of the persons who by its aforesaid
exceptions have been hitherto excluded from Executive clemency:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the
United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the full pardon
described in the said proclamation of the 29th day of May, A.D. 1865,
shall henceforth be opened and extended to all persons who, directly or
indirectly, participated in the late rebellion, with the restoration
of all privileges, immunities, and rights of property, except as to
property with regard to slaves, and except in cases of legal proceedings
under the laws of the United States; but upon this condition,
nevertheless, that every such person who shall seek to avail himself of
this proclamation shall take and subscribe the following oath and shall
cause the same to be registered for permanent preservation in the same
manner and with the same effect as with the oath prescribed in the said
proclamation of the 29th day of May, 1865, namely:
I, ---- ----, do solemnly swear (or affirm), in presence of Almighty
God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States
thereunder, and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully
support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the late
rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God.
The following persons, and no others, are excluded from the benefits of
this proclamation and of the said proclamation of the 29th day of May,
1865, namely:
First. The chief or pretended chief executive officers, including the
President, the Vice-President, and all heads of departments of the
pretended Confederate or rebel government, and all who were agents
thereof in foreign states and countries, and all who held or pretended
to hold in the service of the said pretended Confederate government a
military rank or title above the grade of brigadier-general or naval
rank or title above that of captain, and all who were or pretended to be
governors of States while maintaining, aiding, abetting, or submitting
to and acquiescing in the rebellion.
Second. All persons who in any way treated otherwise than as lawful
prisoners of war persons who in any capacity were employed or engaged in
the military or naval service of the United States.
Third. All persons who at the time they may seek to obtain the benefits
of this proclamation are actually in civil, military, or naval
confinement or custody, or legally held to bail, either before or after
conviction, and all persons who were engaged, directly or indirectly, in
the assassination of the late President of the United States or in any
plot or conspiracy in any manner therewith connected.
In testimony whereof I have signed these presents with my hand and have
caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, the 7th day of September, A.D. 1867, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-second.