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ESSAY ON presidental reconstruction america
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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,
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.
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.
Johnson, a southern Democrat who supported the Union, had been chosen as a running mate by Lincoln in 1860 to try and appease both sides of the slavery debate. Johnson had been a tailor by trade prior to entering politics and had none of Lincoln’s skills as orator or negotiator. From the state of Tennessee, he had sympathy for the South and supported Lincoln’s plan of “restoration.” After Lincoln’s death, Johnson implemented his own plan, based loosely on the desires of Lincoln to shepherd the South back into the Union, but with several distinct changes. Johnson chose not to allow military nor civil leaders of the Confederacy to participate in the new government.
After the Civil War the era of the Reconstruction began with the 13th Amendment which President Abraham Lincoln's announced as the Emancipation Proclamation in 1883. The 13th Amendment was a huge deal because it eliminated slavery and obligatory servitude. After Lincoln's assassination in April 1865 his successor Andrew Johnson became the 17th president. He also was the first president to be impeached, but he was not removed from office he only served one term from 1808-1875. Despite the initiation of the reconstruction president Andrew Johnson was not a supporter of the Republican Party which most of them come from the northern states.
Johnson believed in state rights and thought that the federal government should be minimally involved in the affairs of the states. Furthermore, Johnson held deeply racist views and didn’t believe in black suffrage at all. These two positions would be the foundation of Johnson’s plans for reconstruction and they would put him in direct conflict with the Republican controlled congress that believed in black suffrage and a strong role for the federal government in reconstruction.
When Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln as president on April 15th, 1965, he betrayed what Grant viewed as the “promise of Appomattox” through amnesty and rapid Reconstruction of the South that neglected reform of Southern lifestyle. Southerners pushed back against any attempts to change their way of life, citing the “remain undisturbed” term of surrender, insisting that any forced change was inherently punitive. Grant was extremely disappointed by this wasted opportunity to push change upon the South. He began to favor black suffrage in order to keep Southerners from thinking they could control the nation. Likewise, African Americans were disappointed by the lack of change they saw in the years following Appomattox.
Andrew Johnson, a southerner himself, believed that the blacks should have no role in the reconstruction. Between 1865 and 1867 Johnson ordered new provisional governors to establish new all white governments, that ruled similarly to the racist confederates before them. Some things did change for the former slaves as Universities and primary and secondary schools were established for them by the Freedman’s Bureau. Now the freedman’s bureau didn’t grant the slaves the one thing they wanted most, land. To the blacks, land was as essential part of truly becoming free.
Even in the beginning of President Johnson's term, it was obvious that he would not force Southern States to grant Blacks their freedom, which became very controversial to the Republican Party. They felt that giving Blacks their freedom and voting rights was essential to furthering their “political influence” in the South. During the absence of congress, in the first few months of his presidency, Johnson issued many amnesties to rebels who were willing to take an oath of allegiance. Because of this, many southerners were elected into office and promoted slavery. Congress in no way approved of what he was doing and made two new bills upon their return.
Then came Andrew Johnson's presidency, in which he offered amnesty to Southerners that would pledge allegiance to the union, but also appointed provincial governors to the Southern states, like in the Wade-Davis Bill. Also, around then, there were many laws in the South
The Union triumph in the Civil War in 1865 may have given exactly 4 million slaves their flexibility, yet the procedure of revamping the South amid the Reconstruction period (1865-1877) presented another arrangement of critical difficulties. Under the organization of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state lawmaking bodies passed prohibitive "dark codes" to control the work and conduct of previous slaves and other African Americans. Insult in the North over these codes disintegrated backing for the methodology known as Presidential Reconstruction and prompted the triumph of the more radical wing of the Republican Party. Amid Radical Reconstruction, which started in 1867, recently liberated blacks picked up a voice in government without precedent for American history, winning decision to southern state lawmaking bodies and even to the U.S. Congress. In under 10 years, in any case, reactionary forces–including the Ku Klux Klan–would reverse the progressions created by Radical
The emancipation of the slaves was accepted by most of the northerners, and President Lincoln went to the extent of forcing the Southerners to accept the liberation of the slaves. However, President Lincoln was not lucky to see his plan materialize, but his successor followed through with the plan. President Johnson gave the southern states government free reign to rebuild themselves as long as they pledged loyalty to the Union and respected the emancipation of the former slaves. The radical Reconstructionist fought for the liberated slaves so that they could have a chance of building a living of their own and not depending on their white slave masters or colonist (Egerton, 2014). The Civil Rights Bill was passed by Congress in 1866, which guaranteed the African Americans equal protection under the law as well as renewing the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.
One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet WRITE THESIS After the end of civil war in 1865, Reconstruction era, which was controlled by President Abraham Lincoln, appeared to quickly coalesce the Northern and Southern states. reconstruction amendments, which were approved between 1865 and 1870, played a huge role on giving legal rights to blacks and former slaves. 13th amendment constitutionally abolished slavery in 1865 and followed up by that, 14th and 15th amendment admitted equal citizenship, protection, and rights of suffrage despite the one’s race or skin color. Former slaves were no longer belongings of their owners.
