Hiram Revels’ Oath of Office · Counternarratives Digital Archive

Title of the Document: Hiram Revels’ Oath of Office
One Line Summary: This document is a record of Hiram Revels’s oath of office, dated February 25, 1870. He subscribes to it by signing this printed copy.
Author: U.S. Congress
Date Created: 25 February 1870
Location: Washington D.C.
Type of Document: Government Document
Publisher: U.S. Senate Historical Office
Transcription: I H. R. Revels, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement, to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution, within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
H. R. Revels
Provenance: “Senator Hiram Revels of Mississippi Portrait,” black and white photography, the first African American member of the United States Senate. Oath of Office taken on February 25, 1870, Library of Congress.