US Presidency
1865

Provided, That special application may be made to the President for pardon by any person belonging to the excepted classes, 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. The Secretary of State will establish rules and regulations for administering and recording the said amnesty oath, so as to insure its benefit to the people and guard the Government against fraud. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, the 29th day of May, A. D. 1865, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. ANDREW JOHNSON. By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State