Abraham Lincoln would lead the Republican Party even though he did not win the south over in the election. He promised that he would save the Union no matter what the cost. This disconnect in policy would later lay the basis for the Civil War, which started in 1861. He never envisioned a proclamation or ending slavery but he was ultimately committed to saving the Union from the succeeding south. Lincoln gave into the antislavery Republicans toward the end of the war and finally decided to make slavery the true basis of the war.
With the assassination of president Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, a Southern democrat, came into office. Despite being staunchly pro-Union and anti-secession, Johnson's approach to reconstruction seemed far less attractive, perhaps due to the fact that he was a slave owner. Following Johnson's entrance, moderates and radicals formed an alliance for arguably two decisive reasons: both groups shared a parallel distrust and disliking for Johnson, and Johnson's measures seemed far too sparing in his efforts of reconciliation with Southern states. Moreover, during Johnson's presidency, Northerners recognized a South that had once again become unruly, which many believed was a result of the lenient tendencies that Johnson approached reconstruction with.
It’s important to note that the United State’s first and only civil war was fought during Lincoln’s presidency and that he held a controversial stance at the time on the subject of slavery. When Lincoln died, on one hand many people mourned him, but on the other people rejoiced Lincolns assassination at the same time. It’s strange for someone that lives in the year 2017 that someone would be happy that President Lincoln was assassinated. He stood up for so many right and just standpoints. Wasn’t it a tragedy that Lincoln was murdered in cold blood?
With the increasingly polarizing debates and discussions surrounding slavery as the Civil War approached, the North and South were at a breaking point. Abraham Lincoln's election into office, the Dred Scott decision, and Bleeding Kansas brought the country at odds with itself and many people believed that this problem could only be solved through violence and division. When Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the President of the United States, the South was aggravated and not willing to have a president that did not share their opinions on slavery. Because Lincoln was so outspoken against the institution of slavery, the South felt directly attacked. Their way of life since slavery was introduced was threatened.
The traditional view on Reconstruction labeled it as a terrible point in the democracy of America. According to this view, Andrew Johnson, like Abraham Lincoln, wished to pardon the Confederates and reunite them with the Union. Radical Republicans, who wished to dominate the South, disposed of Johnson’s plan and gave power to former slaves, carpetbaggers, and southern whites who cooperated with the Republican Party of the North, all of which were unfit to lead southern governments. In the end, this angered many in the South, including the Ku Klux Klan, who claimed patriotism to restore white supremacy. With this take on the Reconstruction in mind, it is hard to see how Lincoln would have made a difference in the events that occurred.
Because Republican Lincoln’s opponents were so deeply divided, his win wasn’t much of a surprise. Democratic votes were divided in half between the two candidates and the Republican votes were not. Once Lincoln was elected, the Democratic southern states began seceding starting with South Carolina. This caused a domino effect of the deep southern state secessions. The reasoning behind the South’s secession was that they wouldn’t be represented in the government fairly.
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.
Lincoln created the “Ten Percent Plan” also known as, “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” asking for peace. The North and South was split up into two groups, the free states, and the slave states; North being free, South being slave. Radicals wanted to take the land from the South, however Abraham Lincoln wanted peace and for the two sides to become one again. He gave a “free pass” and said anyone who wanted to come back to the North was welcomed back, no penalty for “betraying” America, voting rights were given as well. One night, Abraham Lincoln and his wife went to the theatre with some friends, without a guard, John Wilkes Booth snuck his way into the presidential box, shot Lincoln in the back of the head, and killed him.
Before Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, he had a plan for the Reconstruction of the South. Lincoln called his plan the Ten Percent Plan. Under the Ten Percent Plan, when ten percent of the voters of a state took an oath of loyalty to the Union, the state could form a government and create a new constitution that made slavery illegal. Under Lincoln’s plan, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee set up governments. If Lincoln had lived, I believe that there would have been different changes in America.
After Lincoln’s election as America’s next president, Southern states feared the abolition of slavery despite Lincoln’s promise to only prevent the expansion of slavery. Following this fear, many Southern states seceded from the Union and created the Confederate States of America. Not surprisingly, Lincoln refused to give up the Union’s land to its traitors and enemies. Eventually, this disagreement sparked war between the two territories and countless battles followed. After hundreds of thousands of lives lost and millions of acres of land destroyed, the Union came out victorious, proved its ability to preserve itself, and freed all black people.
The reconstruction era of the United Sates was from 1865 to 1877 following the civil war, during this period attempts were made to solve the political, social and economic problems arising from the readmission to the union of the confederate states. After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson further alienated congress by continuing Lincoln’s moderate policies but the radical republicans had different plans and ideas of how everything was to be executed. The Union, mainly congress felt that it was necessary to punish the former confederacy before those states were allowed to rejoin the nation and have all their rights reinstated. The confederacy attempted to appease many of the requirements set by congress to become
The assassination of President Lincoln caused the nation to go into a political chaos, with Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan vetoed a new Plan which was overseen by former Vice President Andrew Johnson. Now President, Johnson took the essence of Lincoln plan with the pardoning of southerners who
Lincoln was assassinated in around April 15, 1865, but do you know what happened to the United States after the assassination occurred? The Reconstruction was going on, Lincoln was only alive to say what he wanted to do but never got to do anything that he said he would do. So the Reconstruction and its progress rested on the incoming President Andrew Johnson. The events that happened during this time were major in the making of the United States, it is still influential to this day. The people of the United States during the Reconstruction era highlights how important the past can impact the future reminding us that what we do needs to be for the best.
The Reconstruction Era lasted from 1865-1877 and the United states was experiencing massive transformation. President Lincoln had been planing for Reconstruction but was Assassinated one week after the War ended. Lincoln’s Vice President, Andrew Johnson took over presidency and shortly continued Lincoln 's ideas. Johnson then announced his own plan for Reconstruction in May of 1865. Reconstruction was a challenging and lengthy time period dealing with Lincoln’s plan, Johnson 's plan, and the Ku Klux Klan.
With Lincoln being assassinated, the next man up was Vice President Andrew Johnson. He was a democrat and disagreed with essentially everything Congress decided. Whenever Congress would attempt to legislate Reconstruction, Johnson would veto the regulation. Radical Republicans, who dominated Congress, hated him even before he was President. It is believed that Lincoln could have controlled the Radical Republicans in Congress, but he obviously never got the chance.
