HISTORY MINUTE

Events in history are not always as clear as they may seem at first. When delegates at the Arkansas Secession convention in May 1861 voted overwhelmingly to secede, it appeared to some observers that the entire state now supported secession. Th at was not entirely the case. Many Arkansans joined the Confederate army forced by the Confederate draft in effect, and other Arkansans quietly defied the Confederacy or fl ed to Missouri to join the Union Army. Not long after the fall of Little Rock and Fort Smith to Union forces in September 1863, Unionists surged forward to form a loyal Union government.

By October 23, Unionists meeting in Fort Smith called for Unionists across the state to meet in their counties to organize delegates for organizing a new loyal government. President Abraham Lincoln saw Unionists in Arkansas and across the Upper South speaking out and used this as an opportunity to shorten the war. On December 8, 1863, Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, his fi rst Reconstruction plan, stating that if 10% of voters qualifi ed to vote in 1860 swore an oath of loyalty to the United States and rejecting secession, they could form a new Union government and would be pardoned for any participation in the Confederate Army or government.

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