Editing Loyalty oath (section)

===Civil War and Reconstruction===

[[File:Almira V. Brown Loyalty oath Washington Navy Yard 21 Mar 1864.jpg|thumb|left|During the Civil War the United States federal government required all naval shipyard workers to sign a loyalty oath.]]
[[File:Samuel M. Kennard oath 1865.jpg|thumb|Oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and, among other promises, to "abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the . . . rebellion having reference to slaves . . . ," signed by former Confederate officer [[Samuel M. Kennard]] on June 27, 1865<ref>[https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/52364050/person/13354023223/media/1758e355-0782-4eb5-95d9-cbb25422f043?_phsrc=6lf-445366&_phstart=successSource Copy of original document, via Ancestry.com]</ref>]] 

During the [[American Civil War]], political prisoners and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were often released upon taking an "oath of allegiance". Lincoln's [[ten percent plan]] featured an oath to "faithfully support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder" as a condition for a Presidential [[pardon]]. During [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], [[ironclad oath|retroactive loyalty oaths]] were proposed by [[Radical Republicans]], which would have barred former Confederates and Confederate sympathizers from federal, state, or local offices. Beginning in 1862, all U.S. Naval shipyard employees were required to sign a loyalty oath as a condition of employment.