Amnesty Act

The Amnesty Act of 1872 is a United States federal law passed on May 22, 1872, which reversed most of the penalties imposed on former Confederates by the Fourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 9, 1868. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the election or appointment to any federal or state office of any person who had held any of certain offices and then engaged in insurrection, rebellion, or treason. However, the section provided that a two-thirds vote by each House of the Congress could override this limitation. The 1872 act was passed by the 42nd United States Congress and the original restrictive Act was passed by the United States Congress in May 1866.[4]

Amnesty Act
Long titleAn Act to remove political Disabilities imposed by the fourteenth Article of the Amendments of the Constitution of the United States.
NicknamesAmnesty Act of 1872
Enacted bythe 42nd United States Congress
Citations
Public lawPub.L. 42–193
Statutes at Large17 Stat. 142
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the House as H.R. 2761 by Benjamin Butler (R–MA) on May 13, 1872[1]
  • Passed the House on May 13, 1872 (voice vote[2])
  • Passed the Senate on May 21, 1872 (38-2[3])
  • Signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on May 22, 1872

Specifically, the 1872 Act removed office-holding disqualifications against most of the secessionists who rebelled in the American Civil War, except for "Senators and Representatives of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States."[5]

In the spirit of the act, then United States President Ulysses S. Grant, by proclamation dated June 1, 1872, directed all district attorneys having charge of proceedings and prosecutions against those who had been disqualified by the Fourteenth Amendment to dismiss and discontinue them, except as to persons who fall within the exceptions named in the act.[5] President Grant also pardoned all but 500 former top Confederate leaders.

The 1872 Act cleared over 150,000 former Confederate troops who had taken part in the American Civil War.

The Act only states that all political disabilities imposed by the Fourteenth Amendment are hereby removed, with no mention as to whether future disabilities under the same are to be considered removed. It is unknown and unclear whether present actions that violate Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment are considered to have had their disability automatically removed by this Act, although a District Court ruling has stated that the Act does apply to current members of Congress.[6]

Text

 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each house concurring therein), that all political disabilities imposed by the third section of the fourteenth article of amendments of the Constitution of the United States are hereby removed from all persons whomsoever, except Senators and Representatives of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.[7]

See also

Notes
  1. Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, 1872, p. 3381
  2. Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, 1872, p. 3382
  3. Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session, 1872, p.3738
  4. Rawley, James A. (December 1960). "The General Amnesty Act of 1872: A Note". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. Organization of American Historians. 47 (3): 480–484. doi:10.2307/1888879. JSTOR 1888879.
  5. "Ulysses S. Grant: Proclamation 208—Suspension of Prosecution for Violations of the Office-Holding Prohibition in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  6. Cohen, Marshall (14 March 2022). "Appeals court could soon rule on challenge to Madison Cawthorn's candidacy over January 6". MSN. CNN. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  7. "Pub. L. 42-193 U.S. Law" (PDF). Retrieved 11 April 2022.


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