This plan recognized, in the first place, the continued existence of the "States" in rebellion as "States" of, and in, the Union. More exactly, it regarded the rebellion against the United States within these "States" as the act of combinations of disloyal persons, and not as the act of the "States" at all. These combinations had subverted the loyal governments within these "States," but the "States" themselves were not disloyal, because they could not be. They were impersonal entities, incapable of committing treason or any other wrong. According to this view the work of Reconstruction consisted simply in placing the loyal element in a "State" in possession of the government of the "State." In the second place, therefore, Mr. Lincoln's plan contained the principle that the work of Reconstruction was an executive problem. It was the work of the Executive, through the power of pardon, to create a loyal class in a "State" which had been the scene of rebellion, and it was the work of the Executive to support that class by the military power in taking possession of, organizing, and operating, the "State" government. {10} [Sidenote: Mr. Lincoln's oath of allegiance, and the loyal class to be created by the taking of this oath.] And so, Mr. Lincoln undertook to create such a class by constructing an oath of future loyalty and allegiance to the United States of the following tenor: "I, ---- ----, do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States and the union of the States thereunder; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void, by Congress or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified by the Supreme Court. So help me God;" and by ordaining that all persons who would voluntarily take this oath, unless they had been civil or diplomatic officers of the "so-called Confederate Government," or military officers thereof above the rank of colonel in the army or lieutenant in the navy, or had left seats in the United States Congress or judicial office under the United States, or had resigned commissions in the army or navy of the United States, in order to aid in the rebellion, or had been engaged in treating colored persons found in the United States service in any capacity, or white persons in charge of them, in any other manner than as prisoners of war, would be regarded as having re-established their loyalty and allegiance to the United States.