President Andrew Johnson granted pardons to many leading Confederates. The Confederate veterans in Arkansas formed a conservative political party to oppose the Unionists, lead at first by Augustus Garland. The strong anti-Unionist feelings in the state were evident when Arkansas voters refused to ratify the 14th amendment, guaranteeing citizenship, due process, and equal protection to freedmen, and in fact passed laws restricting freedmen. Once it became clear the South would not return to the Union easily, the Military Reconstruction Act was passed in 1867. Arkansas became a military territory under General Edward Ord.