Amnesty, << AM nuh stee, >> is forgiveness by a government for crimes against it. Amnesty restores wrongdoers to the legal status they had before committing the crimes. The term comes from the Greek word amnestia, which means a forgetting.
Throughout history, governments have granted amnesty to restore unity after a war or an internal uprising. One of the earliest recorded amnesties took place in 403 B.C., when the people of the ancient Greek city of Athens overthrew their rulers, the Thirty Tyrants, and established a democracy. The new leader, Thrasybulus, declared amnesty for all citizens except the Thirty Tyrants and a few other officials.
The Constitution of the United States gives the president authority “to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.” Those words establish the president’s power to declare amnesty because there is no actual difference between an amnesty and a pardon. However, a pardon is granted to an individual, and an amnesty is granted to a group of people. In addition, most pardons are issued after the offender has been convicted. Most amnesties are granted before trial. Congress also can grant amnesties.
During the late 1700’s and early 1800’s,
several presidents used their amnesty powers. In 1795, for example, President George Washington granted amnesty to Pennsylvania residents who had participated in an uprising called the Whiskey Rebellion (see Whiskey Rebellion ). In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson offered amnesty to all Army deserters who returned to their posts within four months. President James Madison extended similar amnesty before and during the War of 1812.
The Civil War
brought a number of amnesty declarations. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln granted amnesty to Confederates who swore to support the Union. Thousands of soldiers accepted his offer. Lincoln and his successor, Andrew Johnson, issued several more conditional amnesties. In 1898, Congress extended unconditional amnesty to all former Confederates.
Since the early 1900’s,
most amnesties have involved people who opposed the nation’s involvement in a war. In 1917 and 1918, many Americans criticized the U.S. role in World War I. Nearly 2,000 persons were imprisoned for their protests. During the 1920’s, Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge pardoned many individuals on a case-by-case basis. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an amnesty that restored the voting rights of more than 1,500 of the protesters. They had lost these rights by being convicted of certain crimes in connection with their protests.
After World War II ended in 1945, President Harry S. Truman established a panel to study the individual cases of men who had evaded the draft or had deserted. The board suggested pardons for 1,523 individuals. But it refused to recommend amnesty for men who, according to the board, had “set themselves up as wiser and more competent than society to determine their duty.”
In the 1960’s and early 1970’s, many Americans opposed the Vietnam War. The government estimated that about 93,000 U.S. servicemen deserted or were discharged for going A.W.O.L. (absent without leave), and about 13,000 men evaded the draft. Many fled to foreign countries or went into hiding in the United States. After U.S. involvement in the war ended in 1973, many people demanded amnesty for the entire group. The demand increased in 1974 after President Gerald R. Ford pardoned former President Richard M. Nixon for all federal crimes he may have committed as chief executive. Ford offered conditional amnesty to deserters and draft evaders who agreed to take public-service jobs. Only about 22,000 men applied for amnesty. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter granted a pardon to nearly everyone who violated draft laws between 1964 and 1973. The pardon covered all except employees of the draft system and those who used violence in breaking draft laws.
In 1987, the U.S. government began an amnesty program for aliens who had entered the country illegally before Jan. 1, 1982, and had resided in the United States since then. The program was part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
See also Pardon .
