After the Civil War and as Reconstruction began, the “Ironclad Oath” was the law of the land (from 1866 until it was formerly repealed in 1871), it was used as a method to exclude former Confederates from public office, requiring every white male to swear they had never borne arms against the Union or supported the Confederacy. Specifically they swore they “never voluntarily borne arms against the United States,” had “voluntarily” given “no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement” to persons in rebellion and had exercised or attempted to exercise the functions of no office under the Confederacy.
Men who took the oath were eligible for office, those who did not, were not.
Is it a fact that most whites lost their right to vote for supporting the confederacy, and that most blacks, including many office holders, were illiterate. Were they "managed" by northern "carpetbaggers" who used them to plunder the South? I have heard these statements over the years on talk radio here in Louisiana and have read them online. I have never heard of the Ironclad oath and they consider this one of the excesses of Reconstruction. What is the truth and was this oath used to keep southern whites from participating in politics?
"The Republicans intended to prevent political activity of ex-Confederate soldiers and supporters by requiring all voters and officials to swear they had never supported the Confederacy. Given the temporary disenfranchisement of the numerous Confederate veterans and local civic leaders, a new Republican biracial coalition came to power in the eleven Southern states during Reconstruction. Southern conservative Democrats were angered to have been disenfranchised....
"The oath was a key factor in removing many ex-Confederates from the political arena during the Reconstruction era of the late 1860s. To take the Ironclad Oath, a person had to swear he had never borne arms against the Union or supported the Confederacy: that is, he had 'never voluntarily borne arms against the United States;' had 'voluntarily' given 'no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement' to persons in rebellion; and had exercised or attempted to exercise the functions of no office under the Confederacy. A farmer who sold grain to the Confederate Army would be covered.[citation needed] The oath was detested by ex-Confederates, some called of whom it 'The Damnesty Oath....'[2]
"The historian Harold Hyman says that in 1866, northern Representatives 'described the oath as the last bulwark against the return of ex-rebels to power, the barrier behind which Southern Unionists and Negroes protected themselves.'[3]
"The first Supplemental Reconstruction Act (March 23, 1867) required an oath of past loyalty in order for any man in the South to vote. The local registrar had to swear that he had never held office under Confederacy, nor given aid or comfort to it. They also had to take the ironclad oath.[4]
"In 1867, the US Supreme Court held that the federal ironclad oath for attorneys and the similar Missouri state oath for ministers, teachers, and other professionals were unconstitutional because they violated the constitutional prohibitions against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws.[5][6][7]
"In March 1867, Radicals in Congress passed a law that prohibited anyone from voting in the election of delegates to state constitutional conventions or in the subsequent ratification who was prohibited from holding office under Section 3 of the pending Fourteenth Amendment:[8] Those exclusions were less inclusive than the requirements of the Ironclad Oath. The exclusions allowed the Republican coalitions to carry the elections in every southern state except Virginia. The Republican-dominated legislatures wrote and enacted state new constitutions that applied to all state officials and could not be repealed by an ordinary vote of the legislature.
"The Republicans applied the oath in the South to keep political opponents from holding office or (in some states) from even voting.[9] Hyman says, 'most Southerners, even good Republican supporters, were disfranchised by the ironclad oath's blanket provisions rather than by the Fourteenth Amendment's highly selective disabilities.'[10]
"Perman emphasizes that the Republican ascendancy in the South was 'extremely precarious' because the electorate had been defined by Congress, and 'many potential opponents had been disfranchised, while others have simply refused to participate in what they regarded as a rigged election.'[11] Perman argues that while the Radicals had controlled the state constitutional conventions, they increasingly lost power inside the Republican Party to conservative forces, which repudiated disfranchisement and proscription. Voters in Texas, Virginia, and Mississippi voted down the new constitutions even though many opponents were disfranchised. The result was that by 1870 in every state except Arkansas, the Republicans dropped the restrictions against ex-Confederates and supporters, such as the Oronclad Oath. In Arkansas the Republican split, which led to an armed conflict called the Brooks–Baxter War.[12]
"In 1871, Congress modified the oath to permit all former rebels to use the 1868 formula to swear to 'future loyalty.' US President Ulysses S. Grant vetoed the law, but Congress passed it.[13]
"Voting restrictions on former Confederates varied by state during the rest of the Reconstruction era. Few were disenfranchised in Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Alabama and Arkansas banned only those ineligible to hold office under the Fourteenth Amendment. Louisiana banned newspaper editors and religious ministers who had supported secession or anybody who had voted for the secession ordinance but allowed them to vote if they took an oath for Radical Reconstruction, a much more lenient avowal than that required by the Ironclad Oath.[14] In states with disenfranchisement, the maximum was 10–20% of otherwise-eligible white voters; most states had much smaller proprtions disenfranchised.[15] In the South, the most support for the Ironclad Oath came from white Republicans from the Hill Counties, where they needed it to gain local majorities.[16]
"In May 1884, President Chester Arthur signed the law repealing the remaining Ironclad Oaths and jurors' test oath statutes.[17]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_Oath#Reconstruction
Men who took the oath were eligible for office, those who did not, were not.
Is it a fact that most whites lost their right to vote for supporting the confederacy, and that most blacks, including many office holders, were illiterate. Were they "managed" by northern "carpetbaggers" who used them to plunder the South? I have heard these statements over the years on talk radio here in Louisiana and have read them online. I have never heard of the Ironclad oath and they consider this one of the excesses of Reconstruction. What is the truth and was this oath used to keep southern whites from participating in politics?
"The Republicans intended to prevent political activity of ex-Confederate soldiers and supporters by requiring all voters and officials to swear they had never supported the Confederacy. Given the temporary disenfranchisement of the numerous Confederate veterans and local civic leaders, a new Republican biracial coalition came to power in the eleven Southern states during Reconstruction. Southern conservative Democrats were angered to have been disenfranchised....
"The oath was a key factor in removing many ex-Confederates from the political arena during the Reconstruction era of the late 1860s. To take the Ironclad Oath, a person had to swear he had never borne arms against the Union or supported the Confederacy: that is, he had 'never voluntarily borne arms against the United States;' had 'voluntarily' given 'no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement' to persons in rebellion; and had exercised or attempted to exercise the functions of no office under the Confederacy. A farmer who sold grain to the Confederate Army would be covered.[citation needed] The oath was detested by ex-Confederates, some called of whom it 'The Damnesty Oath....'[2]
"The historian Harold Hyman says that in 1866, northern Representatives 'described the oath as the last bulwark against the return of ex-rebels to power, the barrier behind which Southern Unionists and Negroes protected themselves.'[3]
"The first Supplemental Reconstruction Act (March 23, 1867) required an oath of past loyalty in order for any man in the South to vote. The local registrar had to swear that he had never held office under Confederacy, nor given aid or comfort to it. They also had to take the ironclad oath.[4]
"In 1867, the US Supreme Court held that the federal ironclad oath for attorneys and the similar Missouri state oath for ministers, teachers, and other professionals were unconstitutional because they violated the constitutional prohibitions against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws.[5][6][7]
"In March 1867, Radicals in Congress passed a law that prohibited anyone from voting in the election of delegates to state constitutional conventions or in the subsequent ratification who was prohibited from holding office under Section 3 of the pending Fourteenth Amendment:[8] Those exclusions were less inclusive than the requirements of the Ironclad Oath. The exclusions allowed the Republican coalitions to carry the elections in every southern state except Virginia. The Republican-dominated legislatures wrote and enacted state new constitutions that applied to all state officials and could not be repealed by an ordinary vote of the legislature.
"The Republicans applied the oath in the South to keep political opponents from holding office or (in some states) from even voting.[9] Hyman says, 'most Southerners, even good Republican supporters, were disfranchised by the ironclad oath's blanket provisions rather than by the Fourteenth Amendment's highly selective disabilities.'[10]
"Perman emphasizes that the Republican ascendancy in the South was 'extremely precarious' because the electorate had been defined by Congress, and 'many potential opponents had been disfranchised, while others have simply refused to participate in what they regarded as a rigged election.'[11] Perman argues that while the Radicals had controlled the state constitutional conventions, they increasingly lost power inside the Republican Party to conservative forces, which repudiated disfranchisement and proscription. Voters in Texas, Virginia, and Mississippi voted down the new constitutions even though many opponents were disfranchised. The result was that by 1870 in every state except Arkansas, the Republicans dropped the restrictions against ex-Confederates and supporters, such as the Oronclad Oath. In Arkansas the Republican split, which led to an armed conflict called the Brooks–Baxter War.[12]
"In 1871, Congress modified the oath to permit all former rebels to use the 1868 formula to swear to 'future loyalty.' US President Ulysses S. Grant vetoed the law, but Congress passed it.[13]
"Voting restrictions on former Confederates varied by state during the rest of the Reconstruction era. Few were disenfranchised in Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Alabama and Arkansas banned only those ineligible to hold office under the Fourteenth Amendment. Louisiana banned newspaper editors and religious ministers who had supported secession or anybody who had voted for the secession ordinance but allowed them to vote if they took an oath for Radical Reconstruction, a much more lenient avowal than that required by the Ironclad Oath.[14] In states with disenfranchisement, the maximum was 10–20% of otherwise-eligible white voters; most states had much smaller proprtions disenfranchised.[15] In the South, the most support for the Ironclad Oath came from white Republicans from the Hill Counties, where they needed it to gain local majorities.[16]
"In May 1884, President Chester Arthur signed the law repealing the remaining Ironclad Oaths and jurors' test oath statutes.[17]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_Oath#Reconstruction
