Legally, few or none of the new Southern governors he appointed were eligible for office. Congress had in 1862 demanded that all federal officials swear to the so-called ironclad oath, that they were now and had always been loyal to the United States. Versions of this oath were required for congressmen and embedded in the new constitutions of Tennessee, Missouri, and Maryland. Amnesty did not do away with the requirement, but Johnson chose to ignore the law.
