Ironclad oath

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The Ironclad Oath was a key factor in the removing of ex-Confederates from the political arena during the Reconstruction of the United States in the 1860s. It required every white male to swear he had never borne arms against the Union or supported the Confederacy — that is, he had "never voluntarily borne arms against the United States," had "voluntarily" given "no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement" to persons in rebellion and had exercised or attempted to exercise the functions of no office under the Confederacy. Its unpopularity among ex-Confederates led them to nickname the oath "The Damnesty Oath."

Congress originally devised the oath in July 1862 for all federal employees, lawyers and federal elected officials. It was applied to Southern voters in the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864, which President Abraham Lincoln pocket vetoed. President Andrew Johnson also opposed it. Both Johnson and Lincoln wanted Southerners instead to swear to an oath that in the future they would support the Union, which was known as the ten percent plan.

In 1866, the Radical Republicans used the ironclad oath to prevent all former Confederates from voting or even serving on juries. In 1867 the United States Supreme Court held that the federal ironclad oath for attorneys and the similar Missouri state oath for teachers and other professionals were unconstitutional, because they violated the constitutional prohibitions against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws. Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277 (1867); Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333 (1867). However, it was still applied by the Radical Republicans wherever they held power. The oath was effectively ended in 1871 and finally repealed in 1884. Hyman (1959), pp. 264-5.

[edit] References

Belz, Herman. Emancipation and Equal Rights: Politics and Constitutionalism in the Civil War Era 1978
Belz, Herman. Reconstructing the Union: Theory and Policy during the Civil War 1969
Benedict, Michael Les A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863–1869 1974
Harris, William C. With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union 1997.
Hyman, Harold M. A More Perfect Union: The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Constitution 1973
Hyman, Harold M.' To Try Men's Souls: Loyalty Tests in American History 1959.