The economic survival in the earlier Colonial period and the economic prosperity in the
later antebellum period, was key to the Creoles. Ownership of land was vital.
Its possession gave a variety of rights including voting rights. It signaled citizenship
and stability. However as the losers in the war, the former Confederates were by and
large eligible for a general amnesty which restored their rights as citizens of the
United States and residents of the state of Louisiana, with 13 notable exceptions:

• were civil or diplomatic agents or officials of the Confederacy
• left judicial posts under the United States to aid the rebellion
• were Confederate Military Officers above the rank of Army Colonel or Navy Lieutenant
• were members of the US Congress who left to aid in the rebellion
• resigned commissions in the US Army or Navy and afterwards aided in the rebellion
• treated unlawfully black prisoners of war and their white officers
• had absented themselves from the United States in order to aid in the rebellion
• were graduates of West Point or Annapolis who served as Confederate officers
• Ex-Confederate Governors
• left homes in territory under United States jurisdiction for purposes of aiding the rebellion
• engaged in destruction of commerce on the high seas or in raids from Canada
• voluntarily participated in the rebellion who had property valued at more than $20,000.00
• had broken the oath taken under the provisions of the proclamation of 8 December 1863

For those in the thirteen categories listed above, an application for a
"special personal pardon" from the President of the United States was required.

As a result of these exceptions, and the control of the south by the Union army, first under
Abraham Lincoln and then by President Johnson, both of whom instituted a provisional government,
many Creoles were disenfranchised and suffered great losses. They were required to appeal directly
to the President of the United States, in some cases, to have their citizenship and land rights restored.
For them, the term, treason was thought too harsh, but the terms for their amnesty was thought appropriate.
It was this group, often referred to as the "planter class" who had had the means and political muscle to
agitate for the break up of the Union and the carnage that followed; they were held accountable in this way.