On May 22, 1872 ,President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Amnesty Act, a federal law that removed voting restrictions and office-holding disqualification against most of the secessionists who joined the rebel cause during the Civil War, except for some 500 military leaders of the Confederacy.

Following the end of the Civil War, in May of 1866 Congress passed a law removing these rights from supporters of the Confederacy. Gradually, states that had seceeded were let back into the union. Texas was readmitted on March, 30, 1870, Mississippi was readmitted February 23, 1870, and Virginia on January 26, 1870. Georgia became the last Confederate state to be readmitted into the Union on July 15, 1870. All members for the House of Representatives and Senate were seated from the 10 Confederate states who seceded.

To ease tensions, Grant signed the Amnesty Act. It gave amnesty to former Confederates. This act allowed most former Confederates, to hold elected public office. Only 500 former Confederates remained unpardoned and therefore forbidden to hold elected public office. The Act affected over 150,000 former Confederate troops who had taken part in the American Civil War.

potus-geek.livejournal.com

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By 1872, most Northerners were losing interest in Reconstruction. Proof of this changing opinion was evidenced in 1872, when Congress passed the Amnesty Act of 1872. Amnesty means forgiveness of past offenses. The Amnesty Act allowed most former Confederates to vote again. The effects of the Amnesty Acts were almost immediate. By 1876, Democrats had regained control of all but three states in the South. Republicans clung to power in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, but only with the help of federal troops.

Resource: southernreconstruction.weebly.com

sorry… i just couldn’t put that flag up – Nativegrl77

Copilot Answer

The Amnesty Act of 1872 was a United States federal law that removed most of the penalties imposed on former Confederates by the Fourteenth Amendment. It ended voting restrictions and office-holding disqualifications against more than 150,000 former Confederate troops, although some 500 military leaders of the Confederacy were still excluded. The act allowed most former Confederates to vote again.

Source: Copilot and wiki

Things to remember … so, history like this is NOT repeated… sigh

Former Klansman guilty of murder

• BY DAVID HANCOCK

In the final trial stemming from one of the most notorious crimes of the civil rights era, a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder Wednesday in a church bombing that killed four black girls in 1963.

The 71-year-old Cherry faces an automatic sentence of life in prison. The jury of nine whites and three blacks deliberated less than a day before returning the verdict after a weeklong trial marked by witnesses with admittedly faded memories and haunting images from the nation’s segregationist past.

A CBS News producer who was in the courtroom for the verdict said that Cherry reacted emotionally to the verdict. Asked by the judge if he had any comment, Cherry stood, pointed at prosecutors and said: “This whole bunch lied all the way through this thing.”

Source: cbsnews.com

1246 – Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.

1455 – King Henry VI was taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, during the War of the Roses.

1570 – Abraham Ortelius published the first modern atlas in Belgium.

1761 – In Philadelphia, the first life insurance policy was issued in the U.S.

1819 – The steamship Savannah became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

1841 – Henry Kennedy received a patent for the first reclining chair.

1849 – Abraham Lincoln received a patent for the floating dry dock.

1859 – The creator of “Sherlock Holmes,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born.

1868 – Near Marshfield, IN, The “Great Train Robbery” took place. The robbery was worth $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds to the seven members of the Reno gang.

1872 – The Amnesty Act restored civil rights to Southerners.

1882 – The U.S. formally recognized Korea.

1891 – The first public motion picture was given in Thomas Edison’s lab.

1892 – Dr. Washington Sheffield invented the toothpaste tube.

1900 – The Associated Press was incorporated as a non-profit news cooperative in New York.

1900 – A. DeVilbiss, Jr. patented his pendulum-type computing scale.

1900 – Edwin S. Votey received a patent for the pianola (a pneumatic piano player). It could be attached to any piano.

1906 – The Wright brothers received a patent their flying machine.

1939 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance between Germany and Italy known as the “Pact of Steel.”

1947 – The Truman Doctrine was enacted by the U.S. Congress to appropriate military and economic aid Turkey and Greece.

1955 – A scheduled dance to be headlined by Fats Domino was canceled by police in Bridgeport, Connecticut because “rock and roll dances might be featured.”

1955 – Jack Benny did his last live network radio broadcast after a run of 23 years. He devoted his time fully to TV.

1967 – “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” premiered on PBS.

1967 – The final “To Tell the Truth” program was seen on CBS-TV.

1969 – A lunar module of Apollo 10 flew within nine miles of the moon’s surface. The event was a rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

1972 – U.S. President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Russia. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

1972 – The island Ceylon adopted a new constitution and became the republic of Sri Lanka.

1977 – Janet Guthrie set the fastest time of the second weekend of qualifying, becoming the first woman to earn a starting spot in the Indianapolis 500 since its inception in 1911.

1985 – Pete Rose passed Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader with 2,108.

1986 – Sylvester Stallone agreed to a 10-picture, six-year deal with United Artists. He signed for a reported $15 million for each film.

1990 – In the Middle East, North and South Yemen merged to become a single state known as the Republic of Yemen.

1990 – Microsoft released Windows 3.0.

1992 – Johnny Carson hosted NBC’s “Tonight Show” for the last time. He had been host for 30 years.

1997 – Kelly Flinn, the U.S. Air Force’s first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepted a general discharge. She thereby avoided court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order.

1998 – Bolivia was hit with a series of powerful earthquakes. At least 18 were killed. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.9 to 6.8.

1998 – New information came to light about the June 1996 bombing that killed 19 American airmen. The information indicated that Saudi citizens had been responsible and not Iranians as once believed.

1998 – A federal judge said that Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before a grand jury in Monica Lewinsky investigation concerning U.S. President Clinton.

1998 – Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland turned out to cast ballots giving approval to a Northern Ireland peace accord.

2002 – Chandra Levy’s remains were found in Washington, DC’s Rock Creek Park. She was last seen on April 30, 2001. California Congressman Gary Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy.

2002 – In Birmingham, AL, a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder in the 1963 church bombing that killed four girls.

2002 – Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 583rd career home run. He tied Mark McGwire for fifth on the all-time list.

2003 – At the Colonial in Fort Worth, TX, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in 58 years. She ended the day at 1-over par.

2012 – In Japan, the Tokyo Skytree tower opened.

2020 – Australian computer scientist report they had achieved the speed of 44.2 Terabits over a standard optical fiber.

on-this-day.com