Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan

The key issue of the campaign of 1864 was how to bring back the south into the Union. After the Civil War, Lincoln did not want to punish the south. He believed it wouldn’t accomplish anything and would slow the nation’s healing. He proposed a plan called the Ten Percent Plan, which stated that if ten percent of voters in a state had taken an oath of loyalty to the Union, they were to be offered amnesty and were able to form a new state government. Then, the state would have to adopt a new constitution that banned slavery. Consequently, three states built a new government under Lincoln’s plan. However, Congress refused to seat their senators and representatives because some members thought his plan went too easy on the south. These members

Although he was a Southerner, Johnson had supported the Union during the Civil War. President Johnson relatively went in a different direction than his predecessor. He, like Lincoln, wanted to reunite the North and South after the war ended. Lincoln’s plan to reconstruct the South was based on forgiveness. But, Johnson had his own ideas about rebuilding the South. His Reconstruction plan gave amnesty to most Southerners who swore loyalty to the Union. However, high-ranking Confederates could only receive pardons by appealing to the president. This part of his plan was meant to humiliate Confederate leaders. His plan also required that Southern states outlaw slavery before they could rejoin the Union as well as ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery from the United States. Although Johnson opposed slavery, he did not support equal rights for African-Americans. "White men alone must manage the South," he stated. President Johnson 's plan was mostly successful because all former Confederate states except Texas had set up new governments because of his plan by the end of 1865. These newly reformed states were now ready to rejoin the