Lincoln And Johnson's Reconstruction Plans After The Civil War

After the conclusion of America’s Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln pitched the idea of “Reconstruction,” which would bring the southern states back into the Union. President Lincoln, according to many radical Republicans, was too gentle on the south. The government was divided on how to solve the issue of readmitting the southern states back into the Union. In addition to that, the government was not certain on what rights to enumerate to the newly emancipated slaves. These issues became more difficult to solve after President Lincoln was murdered. Lincoln’s successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, was a Tennessee Democrat that lacked respect of the Republican Congress. The legislative and executive branches of the American government

As soon as President Andrew Johnson signed a Proclamation which promised order and peace to the United States on August 20th, 1865, the Civil War was formally ended. Though the Confederates had been dominated, there was still a battle to preserve the Southern lifestyle against the impeding Northern republican ideals. President Lincoln had plans to peacefully restore the country to the Union it was prior to the war, but his assassination created set-backs to his plan. While both the North and the South were working toward reconciliation in the nation, the north was more interested in creating a controlling, centralized government while the south was concerned with protecting and preserving their southern customs and ideals. While there were many attempts at reconstructing, the Reconstruction era ultimately failed at unifying the Union under agreed terms due to the constant disagreements between the north and the south.

If John Wilkes Booth had not assassinated President Lincoln, it is probable the Radical Republicans in the House would have attempted to impeach him instead of Andrew Johnson.

The 19th century in the United States was time of prosperity as well as drastic societal change. With the emancipation of slaves and the boom of the industrial revolution, America was in a state of constant adjustment. President Lincoln worked tirelessly, to reunite the disjointed union. As the president worked, so too did John Wilkes Booth, on his plan to assassinate the leader of the Union. After Booth committed his heinous act, and Lincoln was confirmed dead, it was time for Vice-President Andrew Johnson, to step up and continue the plan Lincoln had set forth to rebuild the country. Or so had citizens hoped for. Andrew Johnson was a black sheep in the eyes of the union, as he was not of the same political affiliation as Lincoln. Abraham

1. The war in 1862 was only more than a year old and the people in both the Union and Confederate sides didn’t anticipate it would last that long, but it is going to go on. Close to the end of the summer in this same year, the Union has made huge progress in claiming confederate lands, winning some major battles. They have put the confederacy in the defensive. They have taken over New Orleans, with even black troops major on the ground of New Orleans. They have taken Missouri and are working hard to take over the Mississippi Valley and maybe even Richmond itself. Bruce Catton puts it this way in The Civil War, “Except for guerrilla activity, Kentucky and Missouri has been swept clear of armed confederates, Western Tennessee had been reclaimed, there was a Yankee army in Cumberland Gap, another one was approaching chattanooga, and a third was sprawled out from Memphis to Corinth, preparing to splice down through Mississippi and touch hands with the Union occupation forces in Baton Rouge and New Orleans” (85) So not only that they Union had taken over regions, they are advancing as well, but they did not win the way this year for some reason. Firstly, because they did not have generals and army heads capable of taking them to victory. General Halleck, chief of the Union Armies and Pope in charge of one of the Union armies in Virginia, were major examples of this.

The years between 1877 and 1900 were very eventful, and there were seven different Presidents that led the United States throughout these years. Though each President played a role in one way or another, the five most effective U.S Presidents were James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and topping the list is Rutherford B. Hayes. A truly effective president invokes change with new policies or proposals, and that is exactly what Hayes did as the 19th President of the United States. The two events that Hayes made that made him so effective were The Compromise of 1877 and The Great Railroad Strike of 1877. After the Civil War had ended, conflict did not stop with the South, as the fight went from war to the political world.

In late 1863, shortly after major union victories at the battles of Gettysburg, congress alongside President Abraham Lincoln began to consider plans of reuniting the north with the south. This sparked the start of the reconstruction era. The goal of this era was to ultimately readmit the south into the Union and grant the slaves emancipation. Lincoln’s strategy for reconstruction included the Ten Percent Plan. This plan specified that southern states could be readmitted into the Union, if 10 percent of the eligible voters from the voter rolls in the 1860 election pledged their allegiance to the Union and support the emancipation of the slaves.

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.

his plan for Reconstruction was based on forgiveness. So he issued the Proclamation of Amnesty. The goal for the Reconstruction Era was for President Lincoln and his supporters, to rejoin all of the states to the Union and to help rebuild the south. Lincoln was going to grant amnesty to all that rejoined the Union without fear of punishment, but since he was assassinated he couldn’t follow through with his plan. It was all up to Andrew johnson and he was nothing like Lincoln. Lincoln was a Republican that passed important bills, protected freedmen, and wanted to give the states that succeeded punishment. Andrew did none of that when Lincoln was assassinated . Andrew was basically

After four years of fighting between the Union and the Confederacy in the American Civil War, it was finally decided in 1864 that the 11 southern states that seceded from the nation would be restored into the Union once again. However, the problems of reconstructing the Union were just as difficult as the war itself had been. Because most of the war was fought on Southern ground, the South had been devastated both physically and economically. Helping former slaves and making state governments loyal to the Union also presented various problems that would take years to resolve.

Lincoln viewed Reconstruction as part of the larger effort to win the war and abolish slavery. He wanted to weaken the Confederacy by creating new state governments that could win broad support from southern white people. With Lincoln’s vision, he wanted things to be over quickly he didn’t want it to be dragged out and a long process. Lincoln’s plan angered the Radical Republicans (who advocated not only equal rights for the freedman but also a tougher stance toward the white South). Lincoln biggest fear was that if they asked for 50 percent instead of the 10 percent that it would continue the war making it longer and costlier for the United States. Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14th, 1865. At the time of his assassination, Lincoln’s reconstruction policy remained unsettled and

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

They also called for any officials to swear an oath of allegiance to the union.2 After Lincoln's assassination, and Johnson's inaugeration these plans changed. Johnson pardoned all the southern leaders that were in trouble for seceding from the union. This effectively put them back in power in the South. Ultimately everything that congress and Lincoln had tried to do in the south. Taking back the power from those who seceded. As well as any help that was given to the poor whites or any blacks in the south was undone by Johnson.

When discussing the important work of William Freehling it reminds us how complex and often-overlooked facts are about the civil war. It was one of the bloodiest wars fought by a nation to decide the fate of slavery in America. Over 6000,000 lives were lost. This might not have happened if all the southern states would have committed to the confederacy I believe Freehlings work convincingly shows this. Not only were the southern states not committed to the confederacy they were divided among there self. There was division between the free labor states and the slave states. This was going to cause the southern state to have to fight each other. The Border South stayed neutral for a long time. This leaving the Border States (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware) open and to win this war you would need these states. Then joined the north side. Lincoln knew to win this war he would have to have control of the import city?s, ports and the amount of supplies that the confederate army received. Having control of the Border States would do all this.

The North was successful in the Civil War, and with that, they had almost all control over the South’s future at the time. The new goal was to punish the South, to make them pay for the war and try to make them become more like the North. When Andrew Johnson became