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Abraham Lincoln 's Political Legacy

Decent Essays

In chapter eight of the book Abraham Lincoln’s political legacy is looked at. It goes in depth on how during the Reconstruction, the republican party essentially ruined the South for twelve years by instituting puppet governments that constantly raised taxes but provided very few public benefits (7). This chapter talks also talks about how the republican party stole money from the raised taxes. It seems like the main goal for the government at this point was to become an empire under Abraham Lincoln and his business supporters. “Lincoln’s own Reconstruction ideas made a mockery of democracy (227). “He believed that at least 10 percent of the southern population probably had Unionist sympathies, and he wanted representatives of that group to be put into place by the Republican Party as the governors, mayors, and local public officials of the Southern states after the war” (227). Abraham Lincoln seems like he is trying to get all the power he can by taking control of the south and making them do certain duties after the war is over. Lincoln was trying to explore Central Government according to Richard Bensel (232).
Chapter nine describes Lincoln’s economic legacy (7). Lincoln was trying to get easy votes from the majority of the people and he knew he can do that with the northern states. The south on the other hand did not agree with his policies and the “American System” he wanted to establish. The only things that were standing in his way to have complete power was, the

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