Schurz reported that some Southerners found the loyalty oath repugnant and humiliating and refused to take it, but for others it was merely instrumental. It gave them back their votes and potentially their power. They treated it with scorn and ridicule, but they took it. Johnson initially denied pardons to the highest-ranking Confederates; they had to apply for personal pardons. Petitioning for pardons became women’s work, and it was both personal and tawdry.
