On December 8, 1863, more than eighteen months before the Confederate surrender, President Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. In it, he offered a full pardon to anyone who pledged to support the Union. The response was so overwhelming that in March of the following year Lincoln issued a second Proclamation, clarifying exactly who qualified for the amnesty. Bonhams will offer a draft version of the document at its Books & Manuscripts auction on June 19 in New York, where it’s expected to sell for $200,000-$300,000.The existence of the draft document was unknown for over a century. In this second proclamation, issued on March 26, 1864, Lincoln offers certain qualifications for pardon. Confederate prisoners already in the custody of the United States, he explains, will not automatically be entitled to a pardon. Instead, he promises in the document to review each plea on a case by case basis.
