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How Did Abraham Lincoln's Impact On Society

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The United States of America is a fairly young country; as it was the first successful European colony to separate from its motherland. As the nation developed, there were various prominent figures whose legacy is often measured by the impact they had upon the nation. Regardless if the impact was positive or negative, big or small, all early leaders had some impact. It is crucial to any nation to acquire leaders who will successfully lead the nation through war, and help rebuild the nation after. The Civil War involved the United States of America, the Northern states, the Confederate States of America, and the Southern states. The southern states had left the Union, over the straining disagreement of slavery. Abraham Lincoln was the president …show more content…

by changing social and economic standards, making him the most impactful early leader; while his successor Andrew Johnson was the least impactful because he failed to reconstruct the South which was his core responsibility as president. Although Lincoln was part of the reason the United States divided into the Union and Confederacy, he was also the reason they united back together. The Civil War showed strength in Lincoln’s leadership and opened up so many possibilities by completely changing social dynamics, specifically slavery. Slavery has deep roots in the foundation of the U.S.; so back then, when Lincoln proposed abolishing slavery, southerners thought it was absurd. Not only did his victorious election cause controversy, but the Emancipation Proclamation did as well. It angered Southerners more because freeing slaves out of his jurisdiction while there were slave states within his jurisdiction seemed highly hypocritical. It also messed with the Confederacy’s economy. Their economy, one of the strongest in the world, relied heavily upon the labor of slaves. Lincoln's passing of the 13th Amendment hit Southerners hard. Lincoln’s impact did not just stop there, the 14th and 15th Amendments were the results of Lincoln’s leadership. Abraham Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, was not as impactful. Johnson failed to firmly reconstruct the southern states. His lenient plan resulted in the South returning to similar pre-Civil War conditions. He was so concerned with making sure the government remained all-white and African Americans had no role in society, that he forgot to be a leader in developing the nation. In simple terms, Johnson’s opposition to the Freedman’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act only stalled the incorporation of African Americans in the U.S. and delayed the development of the nation. During this period, it was Congress that made

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In 1865, the Confederate Armies were defeated by the Union Armies, before the civil war the country was divided North and South. Issues included taxes, states rights, and war but the biggest issue was Slavery. This was an issue for the south but had yet been banned by Abraham lincoln in 1863. Although these problems were significant Jefferson believed that in order to have a normal society you must have struggle, '' The tree of liberty must be refreshed by the blood of the patriots''. Also taxes were a problem for farmers because, farmers were payed very little money and when the Government raised the taxes it forced them to fall into debt.

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There were many different leaders during the Civil War. Three of the most important leaders during this long war between the North and South were President Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan of the North and General Robert E. Lee of the South. All of these leaders drastically changed the outcome of the Civil War in many different ways. President Abraham Lincoln had the most effect on the Civil War because of the many laws that were put into place. One of the most famous laws he put in place was the Emancipation Proclamation, which allowed all Southern slaves freed on January 1, 1863.

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Johnson’s attitude When Lincoln assassinated, Johnson became the 17th president under circumstances that would have challenged even the most talented executive leader. Lincoln 's final speeches confirm that he was tending toward advocating the rights of all freedmen, whereas Johnson was opposed to this The President was on the view the slaves should not have any rights as compared to the White Americans. Deep-rooted discrimination remained.

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Lincoln was the president after the election of 1860. After the Union won the civil war, the Confederacy was back to a part with the Union. Sadly, Lincoln got assassinated and his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president of the Union. Both Lincoln and Johnson agreed with the idea of giving full amnesty to the Confederacy and allowing them to join the north again with no harsh punishments after Lincoln’s death, Johnson continued rebuilding the Union with the idea of amnesty. In addition, Congress thought that both Lincoln and Johnson wanted too much power.

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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.

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Furthermore, President Johnson’s plan, which was very similar to Lincolns, allowed the southern states to be readmitted to the union after they abolished slavery, repudiate all debts incurred to the confederacy, and ratify the 13th amendment. By the time they were readmitted, it was evident that there wasn’t much change in the state governments. Within Johnson’s Plan, southern legislatures were able to pass repressive Black Codes that prohibited

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Johnson was a democrat and a previous slave owner, which didn’t make him an avid supporter of Lincoln’s plan of Southern Reconstruction. What Lincoln had previously intended on doing was have criminal amnesty to Confederates who pledged allegiance to the Union and allowed states to hold a constitutional convention along with setting up their state government. Though Johnson kept some of the plan intact, he called for there to be no limits on voter allegiance for the Southern states. This sparked opposition from the Radical Republicans, a group of congressmen who believed black southerners should be guaranteed equality with whites. They deduced that Johnson shouldn’t set legislative policy for reconstruction as it wouldn’t lead to a country of tolerance that they worked to achieve.

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Sandrew Johnson tried to stop the 14th Amendment from being passed by Congress. This amendment granted the blacks citizenship. Andrew Johnson tried to convince the Southern states not to ratify the amendment but they did anyway. Andrew Johnson was the only Southern Senator

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One of the most important wars in American history was the Civil War, it lead to change in beliefs and conviction in our borders. Fought from 1861 to 1865 many constitutional and social developments had to occur for our country to truly be free for everyone. Elections, conspiracies, assassinations, all to bring unity between the North and the South but also leading to a revolution. It pushed the South to rethink their belief that slavery is right and the Union to fight for the freedom that goes with being an American to all races.

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As shown Andrew Johnson had many personal issues and things that he disliked about the Reconstruction plan and the rights that were being given to Blacks. His opinions are mainly what made him a limited leader and not very likable by the standards of most of the American people. The mindset and the way that people saw Johnson started to change in a bad way, once they saw how he truly felt. His thoughts on civil rights and political rights contradicted those of Lincoln’s which were embraced by many across the nation. Rules and regulations that Abraham Lincoln had wanted and designed were edited for the worse.

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The Emancipation Proclamation had allowed African Americans to fight in the Union army which was an accomplishment for them since it was a way to express their thoughts through their actions. In addition, the Emancipation Proclamation had ended slavery in all the rebellious states which had shown Lincoln’s standing on slavery which is what helped to start the liberation of slaves. Lastly, Lincoln had changed the meaning of the Civil War by putting the Emancipation Proclamation in place since the war had been based on reconnecting the Union but ended in being about ending slavery. Overall, one can see how Lincoln impacted our country by passing the Emancipation Proclamation since it had given free African Americans the right to enlist in the Union Army, had ended slavery in the rebellious states, and had given the Civil War a new meaning which was to end slavery in the United States of

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Finally, the industrial revolution started and became a huge technological advance for the United States. Political unrest following Abraham Lincoln's death created many differences between the north and the south. Once Andrew Johnson became president, he seemed to go against everything Lincoln had created with the emancipation proclamation. Andrew Johnson was a very accomplished politician but he seemed to become a completely different person when he became president. He allowed continuous racism to happen in the south.

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States were readmitted after ratifying the 14th amendment which demonstrated progress to unification, but the nation was still very divided amongst ideals as Southerners were still resistant to Northern control. More action could have been taken by the government to fund the Freedmen’s Bureau, which provided great welfare to many newly free Blacks and poor whites. Reconstruction could have gone for longer, if not for the selfish decision to accept the Compromise of 1877 by Hayes in order to become president. Old confederates could have been permanently prevented from becoming officials, and therefore stopped racist requirements and policies that infringed on African American rights. Many actions could have been taken that the government didn’t take advantage of, meaning that a better outcome could have happened despite these

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Once Johnson was no longer in charge congress put into place the Civil Rights Act, an act that declared everyone who was born in the United states to be granted a citizen no matter their race or previous conditions. This meant all former slaves could become true legal citizens. Similarly, the 14th amendment made it so that each state was to give equal protection of the laws to everyone because it too declared all citizens were equal. This amendment also would not allow for confederate political leaders to hold positions and it would not forgive any debts of the confederacy. Following the civil rights act and the 14th amendment the 15th amendment and then another civil rights act were also put into effect.

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There was riots that couldn’t be contained, rapid debt build up, and the nation of the whole was barely standing. Abraham Lincoln emancipated the slaves because he felt he had to, also the south had just seceded the union, and emancipating the slaves was one of the only ways he could keep the union from falling apart.

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