Amnesty Act
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The Amnesty Act of May 23, 1872 was a United States federal law that removed voting restrictions and office-holding disqualification against most of the secessionists who rebelled in the United States Civil War, except for some 500 military leaders of the Confederacy. The original restrictive Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 1866.[1]
The 1872 Act affected over 150,000 former Confederate troops who had taken part in the American Civil War. The Amnesty helped to swing the political balance in the south, giving voting rights to the ex-Confederates who would most likely vote for the Democratic party.
