President Johnsons Amnesty Proclamation
On the 29th of May President
Johnson issued a proclamation granting amnesty to all persons who have directly or
indirectly taken part in the rebellion, with the restoration of all rights of property
except as to slaves, and except in cases where legal proceedings have been instituted for
the confiscation of property, on condition of their taking an oath to defend the
Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States, and to obey all laws and
proclamations which have been made during the rebellion with reference to the emancipation
of slaves. There are excluded from pardon, except on special application to the President,
the following classes of persons: Those who have, in order to aid the rebellion, left
judicial positions or seats in Congress, or who have resigned commissions in the army or
navy, or absented themselves from the country; those who were educated at West Point or in
the United States Naval Academy; those who have engaged in any way in torturing our
prisoners; those who have been engaged in the destruction of our commerce, or who have
made raids from Canada into the United States; all persons in military, naval, or civil
confinement as prisoners of war; all persons who have voluntarily participated in the
rebellion, and the estimated value of whose taxable property is over twenty thousand
dollars; all who have taken and violated the previous amnesty oath; and all officers of
the Confederate service above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy.
Articles related to Johnson's Early Presidency:
President
Johnsons Amnesty Proclamation
June 10, 1865, page 355
Pardon-Seekers at the
White House
October 14, 1865, page 641
General Logan upon
Reorganization
September 20, 1865, page 611
The Presidents
Experiment
September 30, 1865, page 610
Moses and John Tyler
October 7, 1865, page 627
The Presidents
Fidelity
December 9, 1865, page 771
The Presidents
"Friends"
November 4, 1865, page 691
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