THE REMINISCENCES OF CARL SCHURZ
of allegiance prescribed by the Amnesty Proclamation, and by thus promising to be thenceforth loyal to the United States. The proclamation of amnesty, indeed, excluded from its benefits several classes of persons enumerated under thirteen heads—mostly persons who prior to joining the rebellion had held certain official positions of trust under the government of the United States, or who had filled similar positions under the Confederate government, and “all participants in the rebellion, the estimated value of whose taxable property was over twenty thousand dollars.” The classes thus excepted no doubt comprised the most intelligent and influential part of the population. But the proclamation provided also that “special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes,” and the assurance was added that such applications would be liberally considered and complied with. Such applications promptly came in by the thousands and were granted with the liberality promised. However, it was not at all probable that the excluded classes, the men of traditional standing and influence in their communities, would now at once cease to exercise that influence over the multitude that had been accustomed to follow their leadership.
The Amnesty Proclamation, giving the country and the world the assurance that the victory of the Union would not be tarnished by any acts of bloody vengeance, was received with general satisfaction at the North, excepting by a few extremists. But the proclamation ordering the reconstruction of the State of North Carolina caused much misgiving, as it was taken, not as a mere experiment, but as an intended rule for the reconstruction of all the rest. It confined the right of suffrage to the white men. Among the white men of the South there were only a small number who had not, after the secession ordinances had been passed, thrown in their lot with the rebellion.
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