Reconstruction Plan Research Paper

Reconstruction was the time period following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, in which the United States began to rebuild. The term can also refer to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. While all aspects of Reconstruction were not successful, the main goal of the time period was carried out, making Reconstruction over all successful. During this time, the Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were ratified, and African Americans were freed from slavery and able to start new lives.

The effort to rebuild the southern states and restore the Union was known as Reconstruction, a period that lasted from 1865 to 1877. Several different plans for Reconstruction emerged during and after the war. Much debate about differing plans centered on who would control Reconstruction -- the President or Congress.

Johnson was not as liked as a president. He had somewhat of a personality complex. He always wished to be viewed as powerful. He was a tall Texan, and his professed arrogance was pushed on all who contacted him. For example, he had a powered chair lift installed in Air-Force-One so that he could raise himself inches above the people he was talking with. Johnson had always been a strong legislator, and he brought these talents to the white house. He pushed for social issues. He was successful in passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964, followed by the Voting Rights Act shortly later. In November of 64, Americans elected Johnson in a landslide. All of America except for the Deep South seemed to like what he had to say about social issues.

President Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan was started before the Civil War even ended. He wanted to reunify the North and South in his plan called the “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction”, in this plan he would

Reconstruction started in 1865 after the war was coming to an end and completed in 1877. It Is the process by which federal government controlled the former Confederate states and the conditions for their readmission to the union. Abraham Lincoln was our president at the time and could not form a treaty with the defeated government. After the emancipation, thousands of freedmen left their plantation to find a new life without being owned and forced to work. This began the political, social, and economic goals for reconstruction regarding African Americans.

After the Civil War, which lasted from 1861-1865, there were three different approaches to southern reconstruction. The Lincoln Plan, as outlined by Abraham Lincoln before his death, would: (1) improve the economic and political status of blacks (2) allow southern states to re-enter the Union after 10% of whites had taken oaths of loyalty (3) grant blanket pardons to Confederate veterans after individual pleas to the president, and (4) not allow a loss of property except slaves. At the time, Lincoln’s primary objective was to end the war and bring southern states back into the Union. Ultimately, his dream of abolishing slavery was realized with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863; however, his long term goal of rebuilding the South was put to a halt after his assassination, and successor Andrew Johnson.

Radical Republicans disliked the Ten Percent Plan because it enabled Lincoln to determine Union policy, so in place they put the Wade-Davis Bill. The Wade-Davis Bill was passed in 1864, and provided constitutional conventions only after the majority of the others in a southern state had taken a loyalty oath, this also guaranteed black equality. Lincoln later disposed of the Wade-Davis Bill with a pocket veto, but the matters still stood when Andrew Johnson became president after the assassination. The Radical Republicans took a on a more vengeful approach to reconstruction, which Andrew Johnson did not approve of. Andrew Johnson ratified the Thirteenth amendment which, abolished slavery, and elected senators and representatives in 1865.

There were several plans for Reconstruction. Lincoln’s plan was called the Ten Percent Plan, proposed in 1863. His plan proclaimed that when ten percent of a state’s voters in the presidential election of 1860 promised to allow emancipation, they would be let back into the Union. They also had to take an oath of allegiance to the United States. (Kennedy,

Reconstruction was a period which took place after the Civil War between 1865-1877, and it was a process by which former states of the Confederacy were “reconstructed” into the United States. Reconstruction was also a controversial period as the Blacks were not receiving the rights that they were promised due to which the Southerners were against Republicans, also the president, and the Congress did not agree on the same plan for Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a time in which America consisted of many leaders, goals, and accomplishments. Reconstruction did come to an end, but its outcome was distinguished as a failure, and as a success.

The time directly after the civil war was a vital era for change in America. We could be the country that learned from their mistakes and create a society focused on justice and equality or we could continue down a broken path, where the country is divided. This time was sensitive and all of the importance placed on it led to disagreements between how the country should handle the matter of reconstruction. The mostly ex-Confederate’s plans: treat African Americans like they were still slaves. They did this through a set of harsh laws put in place to subjugate freed slaves called the Black Codes. Now one idea that could have worked but unfortunately

Describe the three different plans of Reconstruction for the South? Which plan would have been fair and best for the United States?

Before reconstruction Lincoln implemented the ten percent rule. The ten percent rule asserted that the rebel states would be able to be readmitted into the Union only under the condition that ten percent of its

Another major achievement that Johnson performed was the Reconstruction after the Civil War and abolishing slavery in the south. He added to our Constitution, the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery and the 14th amendment for equal protection of all citizens.

Reconstruction was mainly destroyed by the South because of the KKK's horrid actions against African Americans and Reconstruction. The discrimination and misconception of blacks in the South also contributed to the fall of Reconstruction. However, the North neglected to do all they could to help accomplish Reconstruction as well. Reconstruction was the plan to heal the nation from the war and slavery. The plan was to help the South move on from slavery and give African Americans new, fair opportunities in life. Reconstruction had a strong start in the early 1870's and was dead by 1877, because of the South.

By releasing it after a Union victory, the North would seem coordinated, rather than desperate. In December 1863, Lincoln offered a reinstatement of Southern states known as the Ten Percent Plan. It stated that any state could become part of the Union once again, but only if if ten percent of the white male population in the south took an oath, which included that under the name of God, they would faithfully defend the Constitution and Union of the U.S.. In Addition, Lincoln was sure to include that, under the plan, all southerners would have to support the emancipation of