Events
Lincoln issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
Congress passes Wade-Davis Bill; Lincoln pocket-vetoes it
Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse
Congress creates Freedmen’s BureauLincoln is assassinated; Johnson becomes president-
Abraham Lincoln
16th U.S. president; proposed Ten-Percent Plan for Reconstruction in 1863; assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865
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Andrew Johnson
17th U.S. president; was vice president in Lincoln’s second term and became president upon Lincoln’s assassination
Key People
Plans for Reconstruction
After major Union victories at the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln began preparing his plan for Reconstruction to reunify the North and South after the war’s end. Because Lincoln believed that the South had never legally seceded from the Union, his plan for Reconstruction was based on forgiveness. He thus issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863 to announce his intention to reunite the once-united states. Lincoln hoped that the proclamation would rally northern support for the war and persuade weary Confederate soldiers to surrender.
The Ten-Percent Plan
Lincoln’s blueprint for Reconstruction included the Ten-Percent Plan,which specified that a southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10 percent of its voters (from the voter rolls for the election of 1860) swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. Voters could then elect delegates to draft revised state constitutions and establish new state governments. All southerners except for high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials would be granted a full pardon. Lincoln guaranteed southerners that he would protect their private property, though not their slaves. Most moderate Republicans in Congress supported the president’s proposal for Reconstruction because they wanted to bring a quick end to the war.
In many ways, the Ten-Percent Plan was more of a political maneuver than a plan for Reconstruction. Lincoln wanted to end the war quickly. He feared that a protracted war would lose public support and that the North and South would never be reunited if the fighting did not stop quickly. His fears were justified: by late 1863, a large number of Democrats were clamoring for a truce and peaceful resolution. Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan was thus lenient—an attempt to entice the South to surrender.
Lincoln’s Vision for Reconstruction
President Lincoln seemed to favor self-Reconstruction by the states with little assistance from Washington. To appeal to poorer whites, he offered to pardon all Confederates; to appeal to former plantation owners and southern aristocrats, he pledged to protect private property. Unlike Radical Republicans in Congress, Lincoln did not want to punish southerners or reorganize southern society. His actions indicate that he wanted Reconstruction to be a short process in which secessionist states could draft new constitutions as swiftly as possible so that the United States could exist as it had before. But historians can only speculate that Lincoln desired a swift reunification, for his assassination in 1865 cut his plans for Reconstruction short.
Louisiana Drafts a New Constitution
White southerners in the Union-occupied state of Louisiana met in 1864—before the end of the Civil War—to draft a new constitution in accordance with the Ten-Percent Plan. The progressive delegates promised free public schooling, improvements to the labor system, and public works projects. They also abolished slavery in the state but refused to give the would-be freed slaves the right to vote. Although Lincoln approved of the new constitution, Congress rejected it and refused to acknowledge the state delegates who won in Louisiana in the election of 1864.
The Radical Republicans
Many leading Republicans in Congress feared that Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was not harsh enough, believing that the South needed to be punished for causing the war. These Radical Republicans hoped to control the Reconstruction process, transform southern society, disband the planter aristocracy, redistribute land, develop industry, and guarantee civil liberties for former slaves. Although the Radical Republicans were the minority party in Congress, they managed to sway many moderates in the postwar years and came to dominate Congress in later sessions.
There were basically 3 plans for Reconstruction, Lincoln's plan, Johnson's plan, and the Radical Republican plan.
Lincoln's plan was known as the 10% Plan. It was simple. With a few exceptions, Lincoln offered pardons to any Confederate who swore allegiance to the Union and the Constitution. When the number of people who took an oath of allegiance equaled 10% of the number of voters who participated in the election of 1860, the state would be readmitted to the Union after organizing a new state government which abolished slavery. Lincoln was assassinated before this plan could be put into effect.
Johnson's plan was also lenient towards the southern states. He would grant pardons to anyone taking a loyalty oath to the U.S. except for high ranking Confederate political and military leaders, and people owning property worth more than $20,000. States would be readmitted to the Union once they created a new state government that abolished slavery, repealed the state's ordinance of secession, and repudiated Confederate debts. This was put into effect when Congress was in recess. Johnson's Plan did not really address the fortunes of newly freed slaves and southern states began to pass "black codes"' or laws which severely limited the civil rights of freedmen. When Congress reconvened, it refused to recognize Johnson's plan by refusing to seat any person elected to Congress from any former Confederate state. It then began to pass its own laws concerning the southern states.
The Congressional Plan, or Radical Republican Plan, was meant to aid newly freed slaves (known as freedmen) and to punish the South. It first passed several laws helping newly freed slaves, such as The Civil Rights Act (whose provisions would later be found in the 14th Amendment). It also extended the life of the Freedmen's Bureau. It then passed a series of laws known as The Reconstruction Acts. These laws were vetoed by Johnson, but the vetoes were easily overridden and these laws were put into effect. The Reconstruction Acts basically divided the South into 5 military districts with the military commander of the district given complete authority. No state would be allowed back into the Union until it ratified the 14th Amendment and guaranteed the right to vote for African American men. And later, for some states, the 15th Amendment had to be ratified, too. The 14th Amendment punished Confederate supporters and gave citizenship to former slaves. It also said that no state could deny to anyone, including African Americans, the equal protection of the law and due process of law. The 15th amendment stated that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of race. Eventually all states were readmitted under this plan.