Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty
Providing a Formula for Southern States to Reenter the Union
Less than a year after the Emancipation Proclamation became law, Abraham Lincoln issued the December 8, 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, often referred to as the “Ten Percent Plan.” Viewed as too lenient by leaders of the Congressional Radical Republicans, Lincoln’s plan had the aim of readmitting states quickly as long as certain criteria were met.
Elements of the Amnesty Proclamation
Lincoln started the Proclamation justifying his authority to pardon and “grant reprieves” on the basis of the Constitution. Although the war was still in progress Lincoln, as commander-in-chief, exercised broad constitutional powers to see the war to conclusion, and wanted to remind the reader that the right to pardon was a constitutional presidential prerogative.
Lincoln referred to the persons behind Southern secession as being “guilty of treason.” Here Lincoln, as a good lawyer would, defines the acts he is about to pardon. Lincoln also notes that Congress had already passed laws regarding “forfeitures and confiscation of property…” as well as the liberation of slaves. As early as 1861 Benjamin Butler, commanding at Fortress Monroe, declared fugitive slaves “contraband of war,” setting the stage for various measures of liberation.
Lincoln offers a “full pardon” to any persons in the recalcitrant states taking an oath of allegiance, which is given in the Proclamation. Additionally, all confiscated property, except slaves, was to be returned to rightful owners. Lincoln hoped that this would enable new state governments to form quickly and be readmitted to the Union.
Excluded from the pardon were:
- Civil or diplomatic officers
- Agents of the Confederate government
- Members of the judiciary that joined the rebellion
- Military or naval officers above the rank of colonel
- “All who left seats in the United States Congress”
- All who resigned commissions in the army or navy
- All who mistreated white or black prisoners of war
The Ten Percent Plan
The formula for readmittance began when at least ten percent of the number of those voting in the 1860 presidential election took the oath in each rebellious state. Lincoln may have been well aware that the popular vote patterns in the South in 1860 demonstrated pro-Union sentiment as reflected by votes cast for Stephen Douglas and John Bell.
Addressing the Needs of the Freedmen
Lincoln’s Proclamation fell short of providing suffrage for the newly emancipated African-Americans, a factor Radical Republicans criticized. The Radicals, often bitter and vengeful, viewed Southern blacks as a potentially large voting bloc that would help to keep Republicans in political power for decades.
Lincoln, however, rejected this agenda, but also on political grounds. Civil War historian Eric Foner writes that, “Lincoln…assumed that the South’s former Whigs, many of whom, although large slaveholders, had been reluctant secessionists, would accept his lenient terms. Black suffrage would alienate such men…”
Lincoln encouraged Southern states accepting reentry to the Union under his plan to provide education to the freedmen and to allow them to work in their present conditions. Lincoln referred to them as a “laboring, landless, and homeless class…”
Final Considerations
Lincoln is clear to point out that the Proclamation does not apply to “loyal” states that did not leave the Union, such as Maryland or Missouri. Additionally, on the question of states sending Congressional members to the Congress, he defers such authority to the Congress itself, which has the constitutional prerogative of seating members in both chambers.
Perhaps preempting Congressional actions, which would come in July 1864 with the Wade-Davis Bill, President Lincoln states in the final paragraph that no other “mode” or formula can circumvent or amend the Proclamation.
Sources:
- Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction (Harper & Row, 1990)
- Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, December 8, 1861 in
- The Language of Liberty: the Political Speeches and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Joseph R. Fornieri, editor (Regnery Publishing, Inc. 2003)
Abraham Lincoln in 1865
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