Johnson grants amnesty

Johnson issues two proclamations summarizing his recommendations for the restoration of Confederate states to the Union. First, he grants amnesty to all white southerners who take a loyalty oath; by doing so, the southerners will regain their property. (High Confederate officials and southern planters owning property worth more than $20,000 are excluded from this option.) Second, Johnson outlines a reconstruction plan for North Carolina which becomes the blueprint for other Southern states. Johnson proposes to appoint provisional governors to the defeated states; under their direction, new constitutions would be drafted abolishing slavery and renouncing secession. Following the authorization of these new laws, the states would be accepted back into the Union.