His amnesty oath was found over a hundred years later in the National Archives. It appears United States Secretary of State William H. Seward had given the application to a friend to keep as a souvenir. The State Department had simply ignored Lee's application and it was never granted. In a 1975 Joint resolution by the United States Congress, Lee's rights as a citizen were restored with the effective date of June 13, 1865. The act was signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford on August 5, 1975.