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Apr 24, 2026
Partly printed document completed in manuscript. Signed by Will Brown. Travis County, Texas, 1 July 1867. 1 page, approx. 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. Signatures of J.W. Collins, James Robinson and W.C. Phipps also present. Docketing to recto.
An oath of allegiance required for voter registration in Texas. This oath was signed by Will Brown in Travis County, Texas, which includes Austin in its perimeter. By signing this, Brown swore not only that he lived in Texas for the past year and was now 21 years old, but also "that I have not been disfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States, nor... engaged in insurrection and rebellion against the United States, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."
Oaths such as these were a product of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which outlined the terms for rebel states' readmission into the United States. Prior to this act, Texas was continuing to bar African Americans from being treated as equal citizens, passing the segregationist Texas Black Codes and failing to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment in its Constitutional Convention in 1866. With the Reconstruction Act, however, this appointed Gen. Philip Sheridan as military governor of the Fifth Military District, which included Texas. During his appointment, Sheridan severely limited voter registration to former Confederates, hence the requirement for an oath of allegiance. Additionally, he removed James W. Throckmorton, Texas's governor and former Confederate, for impeding on the state's Reconstruction efforts, and replaced Throckmorton with Elisha M. Pease, the Republican who had previously lost.
[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]
Modern tape repairs to recto left.
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