Abraham Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan Essay

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Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was the greatest president to ever hold office because of his impacts on the United States and his unique appeal. He led the United States through the Civil War and helped to bring an end to slavery. He removed three million slaves from the south through his Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil War, Lincoln made it his primordial task to start the road to reconstruction. He devised the ten percent plan as a way to make the country balanced and United again. However, after his sudden death, his reconstruction plan changed when Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson believed the south was responsible for the Civil War. He brought about this plan that was seen as a failure. …show more content…

Just a year later was when he decided to run for the city's general assembly position. However, just as he began his campaign, the Black Hawk war was started, and Lincoln was positioned as captain. He served for a month before returning back to the little amount of campaign time that he had. Due to this little time, Lincoln could not garner enough votes to win. Despite getting 92% of votes in the city, he placed eighth of thirteen in the county. He was elected to a position known as "Postmaster of New Salem." This was where he got his world famous trademark nickname "honest Abe." He would then run for state legislature and easily win due to a simple strategy: be calm, tell jokes, and befriend everyone in the …show more content…

He continued to serve his role as leader of the country as well as commander-in-chief. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that liberated slaves in rebellious states only. However, slaves would only be freed if the Union won the war; this led to the future abolition of slavery. He faced a challenge by running against Ulysses Grant for his possible second term. However, Lincoln won due to his idea of reconstructing the south in which he described it as, "with malice toward none; with charity for all" (Abraham Lincoln