AMNESTY AND PARDON: Gen. Halleck Offers Amnesty to the Southern People; They May Take the Oath and Go Where They Please (5/6/1865)

New York Times - Times Machine ^ | 5/6/1865

[Homer_J_Simpson]

All Rebels, Without Regard to Rank or Employment, Allowed to Take the Oath of Amnesty.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE JAMES, RICHMOND, Va., May 3, 1865.

Major-Gen. Ord, Commanding Department of Virginia:

GENERAL: All persons, without regard to their rank or employment in the civil or military service of the late rebel government, will be permitted to take the amnesty oath, and will receive the corresponding certificate. Those excluded from the benefit of such oath can make application for pardon and restoration to civil rights, which applications will be received and forwarded to the proper channels for the action of the President of the United States. The fact that such persons have voluntarily come forward and taken the oath of allegiance will be evidence of their intention to resume the status of loyal citizens, and constitute claim for Executive clemency.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

(Signed,) H.W. HALLECK,

Major-General Commanding.

Official copy: J.C. KELTON, Ass't Adjt.-Gen.

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TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: civilwar

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 25, 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous New York Times thread

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4315115/posts

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Amnesty and Pardon: Gen. Halleck Offers Amnesty to the Southern People – 2
Our Richmond Correspondence: News from Davis and His Fellow-Fugitives – 2-3
Indian Troubles-Four Persons Killed – 3
From the Pacific Coast: Protection for Emigrants – 3
The Assassination: George N. Sanders and Beverly Tucker Getting out of Temper – 4
A Homestead for Mrs. Lincoln – 4
The Condition of Secretary Seward and Son – 4
News from Washington – 4-5
Editorial: Our Unemployed Soldiers – 5
Sanders and Sala – 5
Editorial: The Fate of the Democratic Party – 5-6
Sensible Guerrillas – 6
Amusements – 6

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Made America Even Greater Again.

[Verginius Rufus]

I wonder how many Southerners took the oath. The federal government was mainly interested in crushing the Confederate leadership and with preventing them from having political power in the future. As for ordinary citizens, as long as they did not actively resist the federal occupation of their state, maybe not a concern.

I once ran across something in a law book, in the context of right after the end of the Civil War, that ordinary citizens could not be punished for simply obeying the government in power. This went back to the Wars of the Roses in English history, where the throne went back and forth between the rival branches of the royal family and ordinary people did not know who was going to win in the end. They could not be punished for obeying whoever was actually king at the time.