Restoring political rights to former soldiers of the Confederacy was one provision of the Amnesty Act.
After the Union's victory in America's Civil War, President Lincoln wanted nothing more than "to get the men composing the Confederate armies back to their homes, at work on their farms, and in their shops." One way to do this was to offer amnesty. But members of Congress were not as forgiving. With the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868, Congress included a clause that expressly forbade former civil or military Confederate members from ever holding state or federal political office. However, it did leave the door open for removal of that restriction. On May 22, 1872, Congress approved a General Amnesty Act that removed the restriction. The act affected approximately 150,000 former Confederate soldiers; about 500 who served as military leaders or held office in the Confederacy were still prohibited. The consequences of the act were swift; by 1876, Southern Democrats once again controlled state legislatures in all but three Southern states.
