Amnesty Act
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| Long title | An Act to remove political Disabilities imposed by the fourteenth Article of the Amendments of the Constitution of the United States. |
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| Nicknames | Amnesty Act of 1872 |
| Enacted by | the 42nd United States Congress |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub.L. 42–193 |
| Statutes at Large | 17 Stat. 142 |
| Legislative history | |
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The Amnesty Act of 1872 was 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 prohibited 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 in the case of specific individuals or groups of people. The 1872 act was an instance of this use and was passed by the 42nd United States Congress. The original restrictive Act was passed by the United States Congress in May 1866.[1]
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."[2]
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.[2] President Grant also pardoned all but 500 former top Confederate leaders.
The 1872 Act affected over 150,000 former Confederate troops who had taken part in the American Civil War.
Importantly, the 1872 Act did not invalidate or remove Section 3 of the amendment, as Congress cannot change the Constitution with a simple statute like the 1872 Act.
See also[]
Notes[]
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "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 2018-02-22.
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- 1872 in American law
- Reconstruction Era
- 42nd United States Congress
- United States federal legislation stubs