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Lincoln And Johnson Approach To Reconstruction Essay

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1. “How did Lincoln and Johnson each approach reconstruction?” Johnson did not have Lincoln’s moral sense and political judgement when it came to reconstruction. “As wartime president, Lincoln had offered amnesty to all but high-ranking Confederates” (464). Lincoln had proposed that when ten percent of a rebellious states voters had sworn loyalty (taken an oath), then the state would be restored to the Union as long as it had approved the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery. Confederate states rejected Lincoln's offer, however Congress then proposed the Wade-Davis Bill, which Henretta refers to as a tougher substitute to Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan. With Lincoln's assassination, it was time for his vice president, Andrew Johnson, to take over. Henretta seems somewhat critical of Johnson, saying “ [He] was not even a Republican often seemed to view ex-Confederates as his friends, and abolitionists as his enemies” (464). He offered amnesty to southerners who swore allegiance the the United States, except for high ranking Confederates. He also “appointed provisional governors for southern states and had them …show more content…

Supporters of radical reconstruction attempted to increase black political power in the South in order to support Republican policies. They formed political and social institutions to remake the South in the image of the northern free labor states. Many carpetbaggers journeyed to the South to physically take part in economic development. Scalawags worked as white southerners to assist the growth of the Republican Party. Black Radical Republicans also joined Southern politics to enshrine a civil rights agenda and to rebuild the South in a more progressive manner (469). Radicals also created policies such as the Freedmen’s Bureau, the Reconstruction Act, the Reconstruction Amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth), and used Congress to take apart the Klan in the

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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.

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President Abraham Lincoln’s plan of reconstruction was referred to as the Ten Percent Plan. It offered the rebels a full pardon and also restoration of their full rights as citizens if they pledged to accept the abolition of slavery and swore allegiance to the United States. When the number of loyal citizens equaled ten percent of the votes cast during the election of 1860, then they could form a new state government and constitution. Lincoln required new constitutions to band slavery, exclude high ranking Confederate officials to take part in the new state government, and held the right of congress to decide whether any members sent to congress would be allowed to serve. Congress felt the plan was not harsh enough, so congress passed the Wade-Davis

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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.

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The goal of the reconstruction politically was to integrate Southern states/rebel states back into the U.S., and socially was to integrate the freed slave population to the society. However, ex-confederates of the South resisted this because of the fear of complete turnover of their lives, and to maintain the social hierarchy, where African Americans remained at the bottom by default due to their race. Several organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed to resist reconstruction and preserve white supremacy. Congress responded to the resistance by establishing the Freedmen 's Bureau, whose aimed was to build public schools and universities, provide food and medical care, political equality between blacks and whites and equal access to the judicial system. Lincoln planned to be lenient

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