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| Long title | An Act to remove political Disabilities imposed by the fourteenth Article of the Amendments of the Constitution of the United States. |
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| Nicknames | Amnesty Act of 1872 |
| Enacted by | the42nd United States Congress |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 42–193 |
| Statutes at Large | 17 Stat. 142 |
| Legislative history | |
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TheAmnesty Act of 1872 is aUnited States federal law passed on May 22, 1872, which removed most of the penalties imposed on formerConfederates by theFourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 9, 1868. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the election or appointment to any federal or state office of any person who had held any of certain offices and then engaged in insurrection, rebellion, ortreason. However, the section provides that a two-thirds vote by each House of the Congress could override this limitation. The 1872 act was passed by the42nd United States Congress and the original restrictive Act was passed by the United States Congress in May 1866.[4]
Specifically, the 1872 Act removed office-holding disqualifications against most of thesecessionists who rebelled in theAmerican Civil War, except for "Senators and Representatives of thethirty-sixth andthirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States."[5]
In the spirit of the act, then United States PresidentUlysses S. Grant, by proclamation dated June 1, 1872, directed all district attorneys having charge of proceedings and prosecutions against those who had been disqualified by the Fourteenth Amendment to dismiss and discontinue them, except as to persons who fall within the exceptions named in the act.[5] President Grant also pardoned all but 500 former top Confederate leaders.
The 1872 law cleared over 150,000 formerConfederate troops who had taken part in theAmerican Civil War.[citation needed]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each house concurring therein), that all political disabilities imposed by the third section of the fourteenth article of amendments of the Constitution of the United States are hereby removed from all persons whomsoever, except Senators and Representatives of the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the judicial, military, and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States.[6]
The Amnesty Act of 1872 states that all political disabilities imposed by the Fourteenth Amendment "are hereby removed," but does not explicitly mention whether future disabilities under the same amendment are also to be considered removed. In March 2022, in the aftermath of theJanuary 6 US Capitol attack, theUS District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina ruled that the Act applies even to current members of Congress, automatically removing the political consequences of any alleged violation of Section 3.[7] TheUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit unanimously reversed that ruling.[8][9] A different federal district court ruled that the Act does not apply to current members of Congress, and that Section 3 is still applicable.[10] The plaintiff's appeal to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was dismissed as moot after it was determined that she had not violated Section 3.[11]
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