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The first recorded amnesty was granted by Athens in 403 B.C. to most of those who had collaborated with Athens' Spartan conquerors after the Peloponnesian War. (The word itself is from the Greek amnestia, which means "forgetfulness.") The Romans, on occasion, continued the custom, which they called restitutio in integrum, and many other states since then have granted amnesty to achieve reconciliation after a civil war or a period of internal strife. France, which has seen more such conflict than most countries, has made amnesty almost a habit; the latest example occurred in 1968 when right-wing opponents of Charles de Gaulle's Algerian policy were forgiven their earlier campaign of terror. Britain, with a more placid history, has had less reason to grant amnesty; it did so, however, after its civil war in the 17th century, after the Restoration of Charles II a few years later, and again in the 18th century to those who took part in the second Jacobite rebellion.
Like Britain, the U.S. luckily has not until now had much occasion to grant amnesty. There is precedent for it, however. George Washington pardoned those who participated in the so-called Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, and Abraham Lincoln offered forgiveness to lower-ranking members of the Confederacy in December 1863. That, of course, was 16 months before the end of the Civil War, and could be read as a shrewd tactical encouragement of defections. But Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, extended the clemency to the South after the war, over the opposition of the Radical Republicans, as a way of bringing a divided nation back together. More to the point —and a better precedent for today's proponents of amnesty—would be the case of deserters from the Union itself. In March, 1865, just weeks before the war ended, Lincoln, with the approval of Congress, granted amnesty to all Union deserters, with the stipulation that they must return to their units within 60 days and serve out their enlistment periods. Those who chose not to take advantage of this offer lost their citizenship.
The question did not take on major proportions again until World War II. Sixteen months after V-J day, President Truman responded to public pressure and established a three-man Amnesty Board to determine whether those who had been convicted of refusing to fight should be further punished. The board was less than lenient, partially because World War II had wide popular support. Of the more than 15,000 cases considered, only about 1,500 men were pardoned, most of them on religious grounds. "Intellectual, political or sociological convictions" against the war were not accepted as excuses, and clemency was not granted to those who, in the board's words, "set themselves up as wiser and more competent than society to determine their duty to come to the defense of the nation."