Meanwhile southern Democrats gained strength when Congress finally removed the political disabilities
from most of the prewar leadership. In May 1872, because of pressure from the Liberal Republican,
Congress passed a general amnesty act which restored the right of office-holding [and voting] to the vast
majority of those who had been disqualified... After the passage of this act only a few hundred
ex-Confederates remained unpardoned.
This excerpt is from The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, by Kenneth M. Stampp (Vintage Books,
1967, p. 193). Stampp was a professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley.

1. Explain how this quote is describing a political failure of Reconstruction and why is was trying
to prevent this in the first place?