Reconstruction Policies And Their Effects

To the Radical Republicans, Johnson's plan seemed no better than Lincoln's because it failed to address the needs of former slaves in three prominent areas: land, voting rights, and protection under the law. Confederates states, however, readily committed to the conditions put forth in the Presidential Reconstruction plan, and were readmitted to the Union. A few years later, the Reconstruction Act of 1867 was passed, which did not recognize the governments formed under Lincoln and Johnson's plans. Through the Reconstruction Act, Tennessee was the only former Confederate State recognized as having been readmitted to the Union because it had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. In order for the rest of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union through the Reconstruction Act, each state had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, also. The Republicans introduced the Fifteenth Amendment after the election of 1868 because they feared that Pro-Confederate Southern whites might try to place limits on black suffrage. In order to prevent this, the Fifteenth Amendment states that no one can be kept from voting because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Through the different plans that were proposed by the three different Presidents in office during the Reconstruction period, the Thirteenth,

In addition to being divided on the issue on how to bring the Southern states back into the Union, the nation later became divided on the rights that should be bestowed upon the emancipated slaves. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Democratic Vice President Andrew Johnson took control of the executive branch and his background foreshadowed the “political drama” that would take place. President Johnson was a Senator from Tennessee before he entered the Vice Presidency and he had racist leanings and he opposed political rights for the freedmen. Additionally, Johnson was open about his sympathy for the South and he was determined to control the path of Reconstruction. The first example of conflict between Johnson and the Republican

Something that President Johnson did to start the period of Reconstruction was to pardon all Confederates soldiers if they plead loyalty and alliance to the Union. No one was held accountable for what happened, one man was murder. Also he demanded that the states in the south abolish slavery and change their constitution in order to be accepted into the United States. Those were Andrew Johnson terms for Reconstructions. Not very efficient because it leaves all these defeated soldiers, filled with anger and violence in the streets. Then Congress tried to pass the Civil Rights bill and the 14th amendment which

The Wartime Reconstruction actually started during the war. Lincoln in the beginning wanted settlement of blacks in countries or something known as repatriation. A major part of this Wartime Reconstruction was the Proclamation of Amnesty. What this did was offer a Presidential pardon to all Southern whites who took an oath of allegiance to the Union and accepted abolition of slavery. The only people that were excluded from this were Confederate official and high-ranking military officers.

Reconstruction was a period of time after the Civil War (1865-1877) that was supposed to be the rebuilding of America. It was also the process used to readmit all the Confederate states back into the Union. There was controversy, however, on how to go about rebuilding the nation. Abraham Lincoln proposed a lenient plan. After he was assassinated, Andrew Johnson proposed a very similar plan. The Radical Republicans, a group of legislators that were in favor of freedmen’s rights, were opposed to both plans under “Presidential Reconstruction”. They initiated “Congressional Reconstruction”. Because of the conflicting views, there was little cooperation between the Executive and Legislative branches. This lead to many unsuccessful

After the Civil War, the United States had many problems to solve. The country had to figure out how to integrate newly freed slaves into society and bring the former Confederate states back into the Union. Reconstruction was period of time after the civil war in which the United States addressed these problems. Reconstruction had two different phases: Presidential Reconstruction took place from 1865 to 1867, and Congressional Reconstruction took place from 1867 to 1877. Presidential Reconstruction began with Abraham Lincoln, who proposed the Proclamation of Amnesty and the ten percent oath plan. Lincoln was focused on leniency and forgiveness; under his plan southerners would take an oath of loyalty to the Union, and after only ten percent of a state’s voters had taken this oath, the state could be readmitted. After Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson took over Reconstruction. Johnson wanted to punish landowners, but liberally handed out pardons, as he greatly enjoyed the power that he had over southerners. Under Johnson, former confederates were re-elected, and southern states discriminated blacks. Eventually, Congress took over Reconstruction. During Congressional Reconstruction, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were passed, and the freedman’s bureau was created. Overall, the failures of Reconstruction outweighed the failures because it took a very long time for it to achieve its goals, and the South was still able to

Radical Reconstruction was radical due to the North taking advantage of their power and making an attempt in completely changing the South. One act congress established in order to change the South was the Reconstruction Acts of 1867-68. This act enforced military government and rule within the South excluding Tennessee. This demanded universal manhood suffrage. There were 10 abiding states and these states were separated into 5 military districts. About 20,000 military troops forced the

The Civil War was a war that was fought over the civil and humane treatment of every person, regardless of their outward appearances. It left a scathing scar on the nation After the atrocities that were suffered in the Civil war, the nation need a way to heal it’s wounds and unite again. Lincoln had a battle of his own to fight within the congress for the Reconstruction of the nation, While Lincoln believed that the south had suffered enough and had a long road to recovery, the radical republicans wanted to punish the south. They believed that the act of secession by the southern states was treason and the penalties should be strict.

After Civil War, reconstruction was important in order to rebuild in the nation and to run it smoothly. Lincoln proposed the idea of reconstruction in December, 1863. According to Lincoln, if 10 percent of population

There were many different plans for Reconstruction, the period after the Civil War from 1865-1877. There was President Lincoln's original plan, the Wade-Davis Bill, and Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction. However, none of these plans effectively reconstructed the South.

After the Civil War, there were two major paths of reconstruction–presidential reconstruction and radical reconstruction. Presidential reconstruction was headed by President Andrew Johnson, who believed that the southern states had never given up their rights to govern themselves, and failed to institute any sort of voting requirements. Aside from having to take an oath of allegiance to the Union and pay off war debt, the South was free to do what they like. This leniency led to the instillation of Black Codes and the continuation of wrongful treatment of African Americans. This caused the Republicans in Congress to take control of Reconstruction in the South after Johnson’s

The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865 when Robert E. Lee surrendered the last major Confederate army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. Lincoln had begun his plan in 1863 with the Proclamation Amnesty and Reconstruction. Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan would be able to succeed if the Ten-Percent Plan was achieved. This strategy specified that any southern state could be re-admitted into the Union if 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. His plan was divided into two parts: First of all, it offered pardon to any Confederate who would swear to support the Constitution and the Union. “Reconstruction”, a documentary made by History Channel based on America’s Post- Civil War Reconstruction Act states the following, which explains the

Though both Presidents and Congress agreed on ideas for the Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans didn’t feel the same. Shortly after welcoming Johnson, they quickly turned against him and created The Joint Committee of Reconstruction (source 5). Unlike Johnson’s Plan, the Radical Republicans wanted to see immediate change, starting with granting all rights to free men (source 6). The Radicals believed blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunities as whites as well as Confederate leaders being punished for their roles in the Civil War (source 7). In hopes to achieve all their goals, the Radicals created America’s first relief organization known as the Freedman’s Bureau. The Freedman’s Bureau offered general welfare for newly freed slaves, as well as foods, clothing, and medicine (source 6 & 8). The Bureau also assumed custody of confiscated lands or property in former Confederate States, border states, District of

Presidential Reconstruction under Johnson readmitted the southern states using Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan and granted all southerners full pardons, including thousands of wealthy planters and former Confederate officials. Johnson also ordered the Freedmen’s Bureau to return all confiscated lands to their original owners. While Congress was in recess, Johnson approved new state constitutions for secessionist states and declared Reconstruction complete in December 1865. In 1866 the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed which granted newly emancipated blacks the right to sue, the right to serve on juries, and several other legal

Johnson chose to continue President Lincoln’s moderate reconstructive plan to repair the South as well as the relationship shared by the North and South. Johnson also was disinclined to punish the South, despite the many increasingly persistent Northern Radicals who demanded that the South should receive penalties for opposing the Union. This was similar to President Lincoln’s decision, he also refused to punish the South. Not only did Johnson follow Lincoln's plans, he also supported lincoln's political views. Johnson oversaw the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution disbanding slavery. Lincoln had always strongly supported the abolishment of slavery and the belief that all men are created equal. Although Johnson was able to successfully complete a significant amount of his predecessor’s intentions, he was not very successful in fulfilling Lincoln's remaining term. President Johnson was from the South, but supported the Union during the war, he was called a traitor by many citizens of the South. In this way Johnson alienated himself from many groups, including the Whig Party. Johnson also became the first president in history to be impeached, however he was later acquitted by the Senate by one