Compare And Contrast Reconstruction And Congressional Plan

After the Civil War there was still a tremendous amount of tension between the North and South. Lincoln and Johnson however, believed in having a reconstruction plan and moving right on over the War. Not everyone agreed on what they had in mind for their plans for reconstruction. The North thought Lincoln and Johnson were both way too lenient in their plans for having the South rejoin with the North. The North wanted the South to be punished. So with that mindset, it became clear that it was necessary for a change. Sadly, Lincoln could not carry out his plans due to his assassination.

On April 15th, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. After this event, President Lincoln's vice president Andrew Johnson assumed the position of President of the United States.

By March 1863, Union forces had taken control of the sugar-planting region and reported that all the slaves had come within their lines. Fellow sugar planter Andrew McCollam reported that he had only a few hands left and he doubted he would be able to do more than manage the seed cane. Viguerie, along with hundreds of Louisiana soldiers, including William A. Bisland of Terrebonne, surrendered on May 26, 1865 in New Orleans. Viguerie was paroled to New Iberia, Louisiana on June 6, 1865. He was released shortly after.

Historians are right to call Reconstruction one of the “darkest” times in American history. Nobody was sure of anything. After the Union victory over the Confederacy, politicians were tasked with trying to mend a nation divided down the middle. It was a time of many questions (Independence Hall Association in Philadelphia, 2008).

At the end of the American Civil War the United States were on the eve of destruction. In order to avoid this destruction people in The Union had to come up with plans to rehabilitate. The first plan for reconstruction was created by Abraham Lincoln, but it had major faults in which Lincoln’s main focus was to get the states back together and he didn’t much care how. After Lincoln’s assassination Andrew Johnson not only took over the spot of presidency but he took over the responsibility for reconstruction. Johnson composed a plan that he believed would surely work, but he too had major flaws. Johnson’s flaws were Primarily based on his views of certain people and how he handled those views. The last plan was conceived by the congress. The people in congress looked over the two plans preceding them, saw their errors, and forged a plan of their own. Out of these three plans the one that would’ve been the most successful is the congressional reconstruction plan.

There are similarities and differences between the Wartime, Presidential, and Congressional Reconstruction. Each had a purpose and plan. There was a major difference between the Republican President and Republican Congress that caused many conflicts.

In the United States’ history, the Reconstruction Era had two senses. From 1865 to 1877 was the first, which involved the post Civil War action. The second sense, focused on the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877 with the Congress directing the issue of reconstruction of state and society (“Reconstruction Era”). Frederick Jackson Turner argued that the frontier was the chief determinant in American history (“Frederick Jackson Turner”). Both the Reconstruction impact and Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis play a role in the environment during the Economic Revolution.

In hindsight it is sometimes claimed that Reconstruction was a failure. Although there was some good that came out of the Reconstruction it was mostly just a relentless uphill battle against Southerners and immoral politicians that were here to delay change and keep racism alive. Reconstruction brought the Ku Klux Klan who displayed great resistance, and poverty that swept the South once the blacks were freed. The freedom of these black slaves led to discriminatory legislatures such as the Black Codes and the Jim Crow laws to keep the blacks constrained from actually being free. The South was then encountered with corruption and high property taxes, as a rebuild was in order to reestablish the war torn part of the nation.

Congressional Reconstruction was what happened after the election of 1866. The congress had many people in power from the south that shouldn’t have been in power yet. The congress passed a tenure of Office Act which prohibited the president from removing federal officials or military commanders without the Senate’s approval. While Andrew Johnson was President, he got rid of most of the officials that were against the south, and put in Southerners against the Senate’s approval.

The United States changed dramatically during the reconstruction period. After the reconstruction period, the United Stated continued to adjust well as we see it change economically and politically. Though the adjustment continued to go well, the change that occurs after reconstruction is emphasized with industrialization and the impact that industrialization has in certain regions of the U.S and on the people. Along with the new economy came with complications that affected the improvement of conditions in work and in life.

Lincoln started a Reconstruction plan during the Civil War. To summarize, he implemented before his death, the Emancipation Proclamation, the 10% Plan and he tried to extend suffrage. But his Plan failed. The only thing that remained of his plan was to create the Freedmen’s Bureau, established in March 1865, to assist the newly freed slaves in transitioning to a life of slavery and a life of freedom. After

As the Civil War rages on, the question remains, what is next for the United States of America after the North wins? How do we address all the issues for which we went to war for? How do we deal with the people who tried to split our great country into two? Unifying the United States is not going to be an easy task, as the rift between North and the South is enormous, and many differences exist between the two factions. However, I believe that through compromise, perseverance, and communication, the United States can truly be united once again. Confederate states will be let back into the Union after they prove their loyalty. All Confederate generals will be

After the United State’s Civil War, the country was in a broken state. Over 620,000 soldiers had died and eleven states had succeeded from the Union. The country’s reconstruction was a very difficult process. President Lincoln and Johnson were both pressured to create a unified United States and were often battling against their counterparts- Congress. This tug-of- war between the Executive branch and Legislative branch creates a conflicting reconstruction era. Their plans are known as the Presidential Reconstruction plan and the Congressional Reconstruction plan. Although, the Presidential Reconstruction plan was very well planned, the Congressional Reconstruction Plan, if fully implemented would have better benefited those mostly impacted: African Americans.

As the great Civil War of 1861 came to a close many in our country knew a plan to rebuild and reconstruct our land and laws was needed. Unfortunately there were many opposing ideas of the correct Reconstruction plan making it difficult for our president to instate something concrete. It is well known that Lincoln, Johnson and the Radical Republicans all had similar but different ideas of what needed to be done. The ordeal was messy and heavily induced by the radical response and assassination of Lincoln, inducting Johnson into office. Many attempts to help those of lower class failed but some came through in the end. The ideas of Reconstruction were long and thought out but by the 1870s waned down to make room for

President Johnson’s Plan, known as Johnson’s Plan was to restore the Old South minus slavery and minus the plantation elite. The second theory was the Radicals in Congress. They wanted a kind of revolution within southern society. They also wanted to give blacks the vote. However, Johnson’s Plan ended in utter failure. Johnson was known to have terrible characteristics, to be a drunken demigod, have no politics, and heckled by hostile crowds but, he protected the South from the Radicals in some way (source 6).