Commentaries by Sarah Silverhardt

On December 8, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation offering amnesty to all citizens of the Confederacy who swore an oath to uphold the US Constitution. Because of confusion over who was to administer the oath, Lincoln issued another proclamation on March 26, 1864, empowering "any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval in the service of the United States", as well as those persons in the territories which were "not in insurrection who were by the laws therefore qualified for administering oaths." Both Proclamations specified that military prisoners and others held for crimes against the United States were ineligible for amnesty, although Confederate deserters could volunteer to take the oath.

On December 8, 2004, the leaders of all 12 countries in South America signed the Cusco Declaration, creating the Union of South American Nations. The organization is intended to evolve into a union similar to the European Union with a Presidency, Parliament, Central Bank and eventual single currency.