Compare And Contrast Presidential And Congressional Reconstruction Plans
The Reconstruction of many Southern states from the year 1865 to 1877 is a failure, although reconstruction plans are set up, African Americans still face the same poor treatment they are given prior to the Civil War. The president at the time, Abraham Lincoln, puts in place a reconstruction plan to help rebuild the South in a way it has never been before, without slaves. Lincoln also puts the thirteenth amendment in place, which abolishes slavery. However, after Lincoln’s death, his Vice President, Andrew Johnson takes over and overrules his reconstruction plan, and puts in place his own, which favors the former Confederate states. Johnson fights with congress over the passing of the fourteenth amendemnet, but Congress overrules his vetoes,
This week I was going to bring Abraham Lincoln 's plan for reconstruction to the table. It is said that Lincoln started to plan for reconstruction post war. The plan was to address three key areas for concern. First the proclamation allowed full pardon and restoration of any property to anyone who was considered a rebellion or a member of the confederate army with exception of the highest officials and leaders (which is interesting). It also allowed for a state government to be formed once ten percent of the population took an oath of allegiance to the United States, and it encouraged the southern states to deal with slaves in such a way that it would not compromise their freedom.
Abraham Lincoln’s vs Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Lincoln shared the uncommon belief that the confederate states could still be part of the union and that the cause of the rebellion was only a few within the states which lead him to begin the reconstruction in December of 1863. This resulted in plans with lenient guidelines and although they were challenged by Wade-Davis Bill, Lincoln still rejected his ideas and kept his policies in place. Lincoln also allowed land to be given the newly freed slave or homeless white by distributing the land that had been confiscated from former land owners however this fell through once Johnson took office. After Lincoln’s death when Johnson was elected many things started to turn away from giving blacks equal rights and resulted in many things such a black codes which kept newly freed slaves from having the same rights as whites. When Lincoln first acted after the civil war, he offered policies that would allow the confederate slaves to become part of the union again and would allow a pardon for those states.
Our Reconstruction Plan differed from the original plan by making two-thirds of the southern states’ population take an oath of allegiance to the Union, rather than the ten percent that the old plan required. This makes it harder for southern states to be readmitted into the Union. The 10% Plan made it too easy for the South to rejoin the Union and gain political power once more. After being readmitted into the Union, southern political power rose drastically. This resulted in the South having more control over the former Confederate land, leaving black people to be controlled and taken advantage of due to the fact that their government was racist.
A few days after the civil War ended, President Lincoln was assassinated and never had the chance to implement his Reconstruction plan. The Reconstruction Era occurred in the period of 1865 to 1877 under the reign of President Andrew Johnson who was the predecessor of President Lincoln. Congress was not scheduled to convene until December 1865, which gave Johnson eight months to pursue his own Reconstruction policies. Under his Reconstruction policies, the former Confederate states were required to join back into the Union and heal the wounds of the nation.
In 1863, both President Lincoln and a group of legislators were working on plans for reconstruction. The President was working on his reconstruction policy, at the same time Congressman Davis and Senator Wade were presenting a bill to congress. Even though the desired outcome would have been the same, and there were similarities, there were a number of differences between the two. Some of these differences caused the President to veto Wade-Davis. President Lincoln was looking to get reconstruction going even before the war was officially won.
Now there would be questions about who would direct the process of reconstruction. Reconstruction was a period of history focused on restoring relations with the Confederate states and readmitting southern states into the Union. Before he died, Abraham Lincoln took the first steps toward reconstruction when he announced a post-war plan. This included the states having to abolish slavery and agree to comply with the constitution. White southerns
A plan was established for the people of the south that was needed. There were ideas for bringing the Southern states back into the Union. Abrahams lincolns vice president Andrew Johnson constructed another plan called the Radical Republican Plan. Lincoln was starting his plan back in 1863, two years before the Civil War
The Presidential plan, like the 10% plan, offered amnesty to everyone but high ranking officials and wealthy planters who owned many slaves. One thing that the Presidential plan required that the 10% plan did not was that all states must ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which would eradicate slavery throughout the entire country. The Presidential Plan punished many more people than the 10% plan did, it also said that some of the leaders would receive capital punishment. In the Presidential Plan many more people were punished so it was favored by many more Northerners but the majority thought it was still to weak of a plan. The Presidential Plan was use for about the first year of Reconstruction but then was replaced with a stronger plan that was favored by more.
Both the Presidential Reconstruction and Congressional Reconstruction agreed that the abolition of slaves and giving Africans the right to vote was absolutely essential for the Union. However, they both disagreed on how quickly this should be applied to the government. President Abraham thought that this should be a slow process. Many people thought that this was strange and went against everything that he had originally fought for. Yet, Lincoln was using the idea that if you slowly allowed Africans to vote and become citizens then there would be less violence.
America has gone through their fair share of political changes, but the reconstruction era was one of the more difficult of these changes. The Civil War was over and the U.S. had to somehow reintegrate the country and inforce new laws, while figuring out how to deal with the four million newly freed slaves. The reconstruction era was the time when the United States was trying to put itself back together as a stronger more united nation. While eventually many politicians gave up and moved on to other problems, the era did see many achievements as well as
Sources Analysis Freedom During the Reconstruction era, the idea of freedom could have many different meanings. Everyday factors that we don't often think about today such as the color of our skin, where we were born, and whether or not we own land determined what limitations were placed on the ability to live our life to the fullest. To dig deeper into what freedom meant for different individuals during this time period, I analyzed three primary sources written by those who experienced this first hand. These included “Excerpts from The Black Codes of Mississippi” (1865), “Jourdan Anderson to his old master” (1865), and “Testimony on the Ku Klux Klan in Congressional Hearing” (1872).
Reconstruction was a period of time dedicated to rebuilding the nation after the Civil War. The war ended with the South being defeated and their economy being devastated. Many Southerners struggled after the war with rebuilding their land and lives. The President and Congress had to decide the terms for which the former Confederate states would be permitted to join the Union. President Lincoln’s plan for reuniting the country was found in the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
Following the deadliest conflict in United States history, the federal government was confronted with the unprecedented task of establishing a modern economic system, settling a new and turbulent society, and rebuilding the ruins of the southern states. The Reconstruction era lasted from January 1, 1865, to March 31, 1877, and encompassed the years following the end of the civil war to the inauguration of President Rutherford B. Hayes. A Republican-controlled Congress imposed martial law, created the Freedmen’s Bureau to protect the newly-granted liberties of former slaves, and overrode a presidential veto to pass the first Civil Rights Act. Approaching these priorities proved to be divisive along political and racial lines; emancipationists called for African-Americans to be granted their full civil rights, moderates like Presidents Lincoln and Johnson wanted the government to treat former Confederates with leniency, and white supremacists like the first generation of the Ku Klux Klan terrorized communities with violence. Reconstruction policy took such a turbulent course and ultimately failed in building the South into a modern society
The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.
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