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Andrew Johnson's Pardon of Former Confederates Broadside
Andrew Johnson's Pardon of Former Confederates Broadside
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Johnson Andrew

Broadside Andrew Johnson's Pardon of Former Confederates

“PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.”

This broadside from the Mobile Daily News of Mobile, Alabama, announces Andrew Johnson’s proclamation of May 29, 1865, pardoning all Confederates below the rank of Colonel or Lieutenant in the Navy.

[ANDREW JOHNSON.] Printed broadside, Mobile Daily News, June 4, 1865, Mobile, Alabama. 1 p., 9" x 11.25".

Excerpts

“By reason of certain arrangements which we have made for special telegrams from different parts of the country, and through the promptness and kindness of the operators of the Military Telegraph, we are enabled to lay before the readers of the News one of the most important documents which has emanated from the Presidential pen during the past four years.”

“It is a Proclamation or Manifesto from the Great Head of a Great Nation, and is to be spoken of, treated and respected as such by every man, woman and child, whatever his or her own private views may be.”

“to the end that the authority of the Government of the United States may be restored, and that peace, order and freedom may be established, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and declare that I hereby grant pardon to all persons who have, directly or indirectly, participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted—amnesty and pardon with restoration of all their rights of property, except as to slavery; excepting cases where legal proceeding under the laws of the United States for the confiscation of the property of such persons as were engaged in the rebellion, or have been instructed.”

“The following classes of people are excepted from the benefit of the proclamation;

“First, All who are or shall have been pretended civil or otherwise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Confederate Government.

“Second. All who left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion.

“Third. All who shall have been military or naval officers of said pretended Confederate Government above the grade of Colonel in the army and Lieutenant in the navy.

“Fourth. All who left seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebellion.”

[Includes ten more categories of exceptions.]

“provided, that the applications may be made to the President by any persons belonging to the excepted class, and such clemency will be liberally extended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and the peace and dignity of the United States.”

At the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee succeeded to the Presidency. Johnson hoped to restore the southern states rapidly without regard to African American voting rights, which he believed to be a state matter. To begin the process, he issued two proclamations, with the unanimous approval of his cabinet, on May 29, 1865. The first recognized the Virginia government led by Governor Francis Pierpont, and the second, printed in this broadside, pardoned all ex-rebels except certain military officers and political officeholders and planters with property valued at $20,000 or more.

The exceptions embodied in Johnson’s pardon proclamation reflected his desire to strip the southern planter class of their political power and allow the middling classes of whites who had supported him to assume power.

However, when southern state governments re-formed with many ex-Confederate leaders in positions of power, they passed harshly restrictive Black Codes that angered Radical Republicans in Congress. In December 1865, Congress reconvened; refused to seat southern representatives, many of whom were former Confederates; and began to pursue its own plan for Reconstruction. Johnson vetoed many acts of Congress, and Congress often overrode his vetoes, leading to repeated confrontations and Johnson’s impeachment but acquittal in 1868.

The Mobile Daily News (1865) was edited by a former Union officer, E. O. Haile of Maine, who asked permission of the commanding general to print a “loyal” newspaper in Mobile using the press and office of the Confederate Advertiser and Register. The first issue of Haile’s paper appeared on April 13, the day after the surrender of Mobile. The commanding general returned the Advertiser and Register’s office to its original owner in June, and Haile left in August. The Mobile Daily News ceased publication at the end of September, replaced by the Mobile Daily Times.

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was born in North Carolina and was apprenticed to a tailor at age ten. Five years later, he ran away and eventually moved west to Tennessee, settling in Greenville, in the northeastern part of the state. In 1827, he married Eliza McCardle, and they had five children. He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1843 to 1853, when he was elected governor of Tennessee. He served as governor until 1857, and the legislature elected him to the U.S. Senate. When the southern states seceded, he was the only Senator from a seceded state to remain in the Senate. In March 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Johnson as military governor of Tennessee. Republicans selected Johnson as Lincoln’s running mate in 1864, and he was elected Vice President. After serving as vice president for six weeks, Johnson became President upon Lincoln’s assassination in mid-April 1865. Seeking a rapid restoration of southern states, Johnson pardoned all Confederates, except leading civil and military leaders. However, the Republican-controlled Congress wanted a more rigorous plan that included civil liberties for newly emancipated African Americans. Johnson frequently vetoed acts of Congress, and his violation of the Tenure of Office Act in firing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton led the House to bring articles of impeachment against him in February 1868. In the subsequent trial, the Senate acquitted him by just one vote in May, and he returned to Tennessee when his term ended in March 1869. He died in 1875, just a few months after having been elected to the U.S. Senate.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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