Editing Oath of office (section)

===History of the oath===
While the oath-taking dates back to the First Congress in 1789, the current oath is a product of the 1860s, drafted by [[American Civil War|Civil War]]–era members of Congress intent on ensnaring traitors.

In 1789, the [[1st United States Congress]] passed the [[An act to regulate the time and manner of administering certain oaths|Oath Administration Act]] to create an oath of office to fulfill the requirement of [[Article Six of the United States Constitution|Article VI]] of the [[United States Constitution]]:

{{blockquote|I do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=146 Chap. I. 1 Stat. 23] from [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875"]. [[Library of Congress]], [[Law Library of Congress]]. Retrieved March 24, 2012.</ref>}} It also passed the [[Judiciary Act of 1789]], which established an additional oath taken by federal judges:

{{blockquote|I do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution, and laws of the United States. So help me God.}}

The outbreak of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] quickly transformed the routine act of oath-taking into one of enormous significance. In April 1861, a time of uncertain and shifting loyalties, President [[Abraham Lincoln]] ordered all federal civilian employees within the executive branch to take an expanded oath. When Congress convened for a brief emergency session in July, members echoed the president's action by enacting legislation requiring employees to take the expanded oath in support of the Union. This oath is the earliest direct predecessor of the modern version of the oath.

When Congress returned for its regular session in December 1861, members who believed that the Union had as much to fear from northern traitors as southern soldiers again revised the oath, adding a new first section known as the "Ironclad Test Oath". The war-inspired Test Oath, signed into law on July 2, 1862, required "every person elected or appointed to any office ... under the Government of the United States ... excepting the President of the United States" to swear or affirm that they had never previously engaged in criminal or disloyal conduct.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=012/llsl012.db&recNum=533 Chap. CXXVIII. 12 Stat. 502] from [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875"]. [[Library of Congress]], [[Law Library of Congress]]. Retrieved March 24, 2012.</ref> Those government employees who failed to take the 1862 Test Oath would not receive a salary; those who swore falsely would be prosecuted for [[perjury]] and forever denied federal employment.

The [[Ironclad Oath]] signed into law under President Johnson's term as mandatory for members of Congress as well as federal employees.

<blockquote>I, A.B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement to person engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=012/llsl012.db&recNum=533 | title=A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875 }}</ref></blockquote>

The 1862 oath's second section incorporated a different rendering of the hastily drafted 1861 oath. Although Congress did not extend coverage of the Ironclad Test Oath to its own members, many took it voluntarily. Angered by those who refused this symbolic act during a wartime crisis, and determined to prevent the eventual return of prewar southern leaders to positions of power in the national government, congressional hard-liners eventually succeeded by 1864 in making the Test Oath mandatory for all members.

The Senate then revised its rules to require that members not only take the Test Oath orally, but also that they "subscribe" to it by signing a printed copy. This condition reflected a wartime practice in which military and civilian authorities required anyone wishing to do business with the federal government to sign a copy of the Test Oath. The current practice of newly sworn senators signing individual pages in an oath book dates from this period.

As tensions cooled during the decade following the Civil War, Congress enacted [[Public and private bills|private legislation]] permitting particular former Confederates to take only the second section of the 1862 oath. An 1868 public law prescribed this alternative oath for "any person who has participated in the late rebellion, and from whom all legal disabilities arising therefrom have been removed by act of Congress."<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=015/llsl015.db&recNum=118 Chap. CXXXIX. 15 Stat. 85] from [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/ "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875"]. [[Library of Congress]], [[Law Library of Congress]]. Retrieved March 24, 2012.</ref> Northerners immediately pointed to the new law's unfair double standard that required loyal Unionists to take the Test Oath's harsh first section while permitting ex-Confederates to ignore it. In 1884, a new generation of lawmakers quietly repealed the first section of the Test Oath, leaving intact the current affirmation of constitutional allegiance.