Loyalty Oath to the United States of America, Issued for W. F. Ready, June 13, 1866

To be re-admitted into the Union after the Civil War, a majority of citizens in each Confederate state had to formally renounce secession and show support of the Constitution. The signer of this loyalty oath proclaimed his allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, the union of those states, and laws regarding the emancipation of slaves.