Reconstruction

Reconstruction Ronald D. Wells American History to 1877

Reconstruction

Abraham Lincoln wanted to restore the Union from the beginning of the war. Initially he signed two Confiscation Acts safeguarding fugitive slaves coming into the Union. The Acts allowed the confiscation of land from people that supported the rebellion. Lincoln then signed a bill that outlawed slavery in Washington D.C. Then he signed a bill outlawing slavery in all U.S. territories and authorized the enlistment of freed slaves into the Union Army. Lincoln wanted to complete the reconstruction as rapidly as possible without punishing the South. Lincoln wanted to give amnesty to all those who would swear an oath of loyalty to the United States and obey all laws pertaining to slavery. When 10% of the voters from the election of 1860 had taken the oath within a state, the state was then able to create their new government and elect their Congressional Representatives. All southerners except high-ranking Confederate Officers were to be given a full pardon and guaranteed the southerners that he would protect their private property. Abraham Lincoln wanted Reconstruction to be a quick and short process to let the United States exist as it had done so before. Andrew Johnson had initially taken a firm stance and wanted to hang Confederates but after the assassination of President Lincoln, his views softened and pardoned many Confederate leaders and soldiers. Andrew Johnson however did not include blacks or former slaves in government and refused to answer Northern concerns when the Souths governments implemented Black Codes that lowered the feedmens statuses to a point similar to slavery. President Johnsons Reconstruction was known for not enforcing and defying the Reconstruction laws that were passed by Congress. Also for being in conflict with the Radicals in Congress regarding the status of freedmen and former Confederate soldiers in the South. Johnson allowed former rebel states into the Union only if their governments accepted the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

Reconstruction Congress was controlled mainly by the Radicals and the Radical Republicans felt that

Lincolns plans for Reconstruction were not harsh enough and believed that the South should be and needed to be punished for causing the war. They wanted to control the process of Reconstruction, transform the southerners society, redistribute land, disband their aristocracy and give civil liberties to former slaves. They passed the Wade-Davis Bill to counter the 10% plan. This bill proposed that a southern state could only rejoin the Union if 50%, as opposed to Lincolns 10%, of its voters swore to an ironclad oath to the United States and also established black civil liberties.