Reconstruction Vs Congressional Reconstruction

After a war that claimed the lives of more men than that of all other wars combined, much of the country was left in ruins, literally and figuratively. Dozens of towns in the South had been burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the relations between the North and South had crumbled to pieces. Something needed to be done so that the country could once again be the United States of America, not the Divided States of America. The years from 1865 to 1877 were a time of rebuilding – the broken communities and the broken relations. This time period was known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was a failure on the basis that the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments that were passed should have given protection and freedom to the African

After the Civil War between 1865 and 1877, the country went into Reconstruction. They had to rebuild the south because of Sherman’s plan of total war. In Sherman’s plan, his army took food and burned property, destroying everything that could be used by the Confederates during the war. President Lincoln helped by giving amnesty for Confederate soldiers and a plan for readmission to the Union of the Southern states. He also proposed the Ten Percent Plan. The plan allowed states to be readmitted to the Union if ten percent of its voters swore a loyalty oath to the Union and agreed to the end of slavery. President Johnson took office once Lincoln got assassinated, this changed the course of Reconstruction because he was a southerner and a democrat. He had more sympathy for southerners and many former Confederates assumed political office as soon as their state was readmitted to the Union.

Lincoln’s plan was amiable and compassionate. He wanted to unite the states swiftly with little

After the war, the government tried to solve key problems facing the nation. The 10% Plan was proposed by Abraham Lincoln and its purpose was to end Reconstruction quickly. It pardoned all Ex-Confederates in the South as long as they apologized, it would only need ten percent of the voters in each state to swear allegiance to the Union, and did not offer any type of equality to the Freedmen. The 10% Plan was a short-term effect because Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865, and after he was killed and Vice President Andrew Johnson took over the idea of the 10% Plan disappeared. Another attempt to end Reconstruction by the government was proposed by the Radical Republicans in congress and was the complete

Lincoln's main goal was to reunite the Union after the North had won and demolished most of the South. Lincoln wanted to reunite the North and South but the South didn't want to join a slave free north. Lincoln came up with the 10 percent plan which required 10 percent of the state’s population to vote to be loyal to the North and then that state would have to create a new government. The southern states combated this plan with the Wade-Davis Bill which stated that reconstruction would be handed over to congress and the Southern States

Abraham Lincoln had very unique views and ideas on how Reconstruction should be planned. He wanted to make the South’s return to the Union “as quick and easy as possible” (McDougal Littell, 2005, page 377). He also came up with the Ten Percent Plan, which meant that the government

After the war presidents were under Northern pressure to let the South suffer for their actions. With this taken into account, Lincoln formed the 10% reconstruction plan in 1863. The plan stated that states could be accepted back into the Union once 10% of the voters in the 1860 election

Aside from this, President Abraham Lincoln supported the 10% Plan regarding Reconstruction. This plan offered a pardon to any Confederate who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union. States could be readmitted to the Union once 10% of voters had sworn allegiance and that state had declared an end to slavery. If Confederates did not take this oath of allegiance, their pardon would be denied as well as Confederate government and military officials. This was meant to be a lenient plan overall, but not all people supported this plan.

The government had multiple plans for reconstruction and President Lincoln had one in specific. He favored a policy that “Southern white unionists (former Whigs) could become the nucleus of the new loyal state

During the Civil War President Lincoln announced freeing all enslaved people in the confederate state. As this happened about 4 million people were freed and guaranteed to be treated like whites were treated. The Emancipation Proclamation didn't free any slaves in the Union states, but it was a good step to abolish slavery. Lincoln hoped that the he could win the Union side. He also hoped it would weaken the Confederacy's effort in the war. The Proclamation announced that black men can fight as a soldier in the war. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.

In December of 1863, Abraham Lincoln proposed the 10 Percent Plan as the first plan for Reconstruction. In the plan, a Confederate state would be readmitted to the Union, with a new government created, once ten percent of the state's voters had declared loyalty to the United States. These people were also required to uphold emancipation. Lincoln said that it would be "a cruel and an astounding breach of faith" for anyone to not abide by the laws of emancipation (qtd. in Goodwin 588). Anyone who took this oath received a full pardon unless they had been a Confederate official. Lincoln also thought that the entire abolition of slavery, not just in Confederate states, should be made by a Constitutional amendment. However, this plan was more of a way to try to diminish the power of the Confederacy during the Civil War than a plan to be enacted after the war was over. It was officially put into motion in some parts of Union-held territory in the South, but it was never truly supported by locals and Congress didn't recognize is it.

During the time of Reconstruction, the federal government did little to help the people of America as a whole, they concentrated on bettering African American lives and “reconstructing” the South. The focus during this time period was to protect the rights of African Americans, which had long and hard been fought for. The federal government made it their priority to ensure equal rights among all black people. Also, the readmission of the Confederate states was essential to the federal

President Lincoln proposed a lenient plan to bring the defeated Confederate states to join the Union, which was known as the Ten Percent Plan. He believed that being more lenient to Confederate states would convince them to surrender sooner, and would speed up the healing process, which he thought was needed for a solid reconstruction of the Union. The plan consisted of forgiving all Southerners, except the high-ranking officers and officials, who would pledge loyalty to the Union, and as soon as 10% of the state’s voters would pledge oath to the Union, the state could call a convention and as a result could form a government and apply for federal recognition.

1) Lincoln introduced the first Reconstruction scheme, the Ten Percent Plan, thus beginning the period known as Presidential Reconstruction. The plan decreed that when one-tenth of a state's prewar voters had taken an oath of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, its citizens could elect a new state government and apply for readmission to the Union. In addition, Lincoln promised to pardon all but a few high-ranking Confederates if they would take this oath and accept abolition. The plan also required that states amend their constitutions to abolish slavery. Conspicuous in this plan was the stipulation that only whites could vote or hold office.

To make the adjustment easier and quicker, Lincoln proposed the Ten Percent Plan. The Ten Percent Plan essentially created unity of the North and the South. The Ten Percent Plan forgave all the high-ranking confederate officials; however, only if they swore to the Union. Second, if a Southern state abided