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The ironclad oath was a key factor in the removing ex-Confederates from the political arena during the Reconstruction of the United States in the 1860s. It required every white male to swear they had never borne arms against the Union or supported the Confederacy — that is they had "never voluntarily borne arms against the United States," had "voluntarily" given "no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement" to persons in rebellion and had exercised or attempted to exercise the functions of no office under the Confederacy.

Congress originally devised the oath in July 1862 for all federal employees, lawyers and federally elected officials. It was applied to southern voters in the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864, which Lincoln vetoed. Andrew Johnson also opposed it; he and Lincoln wanted southerners to swear an oath that in the future they would support the Union.

In 1866, the Radical Republicans used the retrospective ironclad oath to prevent former Confederates from voting or serving on juries. In 1867, the United States Supreme Court held that the federal ironclad oath for attorneys and the similar Missouri state oath for teachers and other professionals were unconstitutional, because they violated the constitutional prohibitions against bills of attainder and ex post facto laws. [Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277 (1867); Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333 (1867)] The oath angered Southern whites; it was effectively ended in 1871 and finally repealed in 1884. [Hyman 1959 p 264-5]

• Belz, Herman. Emancipation and Equal Rights: Politics and Constitutionalism in the Civil War Era 1978
• Belz, Herman. Reconstructing the Union: Theory and Policy during the Civil War 1969
• Benedict, Michael Les A Compromise of Principle: Congressional Republicans and Reconstruction, 1863–1869 1974
• Harris, William C. With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union 1997.
• Hyman; Harold M. A More Perfect Union: The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the Constitution 1973
• Hyman, Harold M.' To Try Men's Souls: Loyalty Tests in American History 1959.