Essay On The Pros And Cons Of The Wade-Davis Plan

1. “How did Lincoln and Johnson each approach reconstruction?” Johnson did not have Lincoln’s moral sense and political judgement when it came to reconstruction. “As wartime president, Lincoln had offered amnesty to all but high-ranking Confederates” (464). Lincoln had proposed that when ten percent of a rebellious states voters had sworn loyalty (taken an oath), then the state would be restored to the Union as long as it had approved the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery. Confederate states rejected Lincoln's offer, however Congress then proposed the Wade-Davis Bill, which Henretta refers to as a tougher substitute to Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan.

Garrison founded a couple organizations to expand the movement, but his efforts were futile. Southern congressmen issued what was called “the gag rule”, which prohibited discussion of abolitionist petitions. Thankfully, most of the nation resented the gag rule, as they recognized that it threatened free speech. It wasn’t until 1840 that the first anti-slavery political party, the Liberty Party, was formed. For the majority of abolitionists, this new party opened a big window for action.

Abraham Lincoln initially wanted to free slaves from the places where Confederacy resided but had to rethink his decision because that would be unfair to the African Americans who were still slaves. Because of the president’s quick thinking and smart planning such came out of the whole ordeal. Things were getting out of hand and were going from bad to worse therefore something had to be done to prevent utter chaos so the president had to step up because it was his duty to lead the United States in the right direction. Drafting the Emancipation Proclamation was an idea that was a last resort because Lincoln did not want to lose the war. As the Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery along the way more soldiers were added to the President’s army which he was the commander in chief of which would lead to victory.

Abraham Lincoln constantly altered his views on slavery and other issues during the 1800s purely based on his audience. In addition to this very unpleasant approach, he freed the African Americans only as an advantage that could lead him into winning the war. Furthermore, Abraham Lincoln should be referred to as just another politician. We know him as “Honest Abe.” But really, he is anything but. Abraham Lincoln constantly changed his opinions and views on slavery and equality.

Lincoln is more of a fight for the 13th amendment and offers us an idea on how Republicans struggled to pass the vote. They needed twenty percent of Democrats and all the republicans. Even getting the republicans to support the amendment was a challenge. However, we fail to see how the African American is playing a role in this movie, they appear in the background while white men give them their rights. After a long period of negotiations, President Lincoln was able to pass the 13th amendment under a congress that didn’t have southern representation.

Reconstruction in 1865 through 1877 was terminated by Southern men due to their lack of acceptance of African Americans in restricting their political rights, not following the North’s precedence of equality, and the assassination of many a men by their ever so popular Klan. Reformation began after the Civil War which was fought over sectional differences and heavy slavery in the South. Southerns had always been pro slavery which contributed to their low treatment of African Americans as a whole. Once the South lost the War they could no longer legally enslave African Americans, but that did not change their persona in the eyes of the rich white men. Equality was a concept for white men according to the South, especially considering that

The Civil War began because America was not united in its viewpoints on slavery and on the power the national government had to dictate whether or not slavery would be outlawed. Abraham Lincoln became president and vowed to shut down slavery and to make sure it would not appear in the new territories that were emerging in America. Southerners were outraged because they used slavery as a way of cheap labor, but people started to question the morality of what was taking place in the South. When the war began, America was split in two because some of the Southern states joined together. The war was fought by the Union soldiers, who fought against slavery.

He decided to make use of his war powers as president to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which promised freedom to slaves in the southern states. How he gained support for this is an interesting story in itself. He had to not only to secure the support of the soldiers, but also overcome the doubt of many of the influential members of his own political party. Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation was a huge step towards freedom for the slaves, but the amendment was still necessary to guarantee it. Surprisingly, the first effort to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, ending slavery, suffered a defeat in the House of Representatives by a vote of 93 to 65.

Moreover, when our country was first founded on July 4, 1776, it had many problems, but the most critical one was slavery although back then it was considered acceptable. Throughout the years, this was overlooked and ignored by most until finally, we had a leader who believed in the abolition of slavery in Abraham Lincoln. His views on slavery were met as an abomination to white America as he was threatened to be killed. Eventually, Lincoln passed the 13th amendment in 1835 which eliminated slavery. Because of this, we had a civil war in which the persistent Union army triumphed over the discriminatory Confederate army to officially end slavery.

Slavery was abolished in the year of 1865 when it became a part of the 13th amendment . Because of the abolishing of slavery, it created for a lot of discrimination and racism against people of color. In some southern and northern states did not agree with slaves begin freed especially Johnson. Because he did not agree it created for “moderates and radicals” to come together to pass black only laws. These black only laws returned some “freed slaves back to servitude”.

No doubt about it, we support the Union. We need to get the Southern states back into the Union and abolish slavery there. We believe Antietam could have ended quicker with less casualties if General McClellan had used his advantages while he had them. He should be fired from his high position for what happened at Antietam. He lost 12,400 men because he didn’t use advantages while he had them.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”. The President that fought for the freedom of slaves, this was one of his most known quotes inspired to make people believe that slaves had the right to have freedom like everyone else did. This quote then impacted a lot of people, who then volunteered to fight in war. When Abraham found out his words were, “The more the merrier.” What would the world be like if Abraham Lincoln was not elected president? I believe that the world would be very different.

Our nation contemporarily hails the Constitution as a protector of the people’s rights — but we often fail to remember that it accomplished grand measures to secure the system of slavery. The year of 1787, when the Constitution was signed, was a year of great tension among members of American society. Vast numbers of people were in support of slavery, and many of its opposers were afraid to speak up about their beliefs. The Constitution attempted to retain a neutral position on the issue, but it ultimately failed by instituting safeguards against the freedom or equal recognition of slaves as members of America. The Constitution’s first mistake was that it distinctly allowed the importation of slavery to continue; in fact, it expressly forbade

This is due to the fact that England racked up enormous debt and felt the need to end the Era of Salutatory Effect on the American colonists. Early English colonist’s efforts to protect their freedom is not unlike that of efforts of later American citizens of the south in the Civil war. In the mid-1800s America started to form a more comprised government and began to take rule and bring together all of the colonies. Southern states did not want to adhere whenever the capital said to, though they were expected to do so. When the northern states started getting rid of slavery the other half was expected to comply, but southerners were not going to sit back and watch their whole workforce for their main economy be taken away.

When Missouri applied for statehood in 1819, James Tallmadge of New York would only support the admission of this state if only new slaves were banned and if the current slaves of the area were freed. White inhabitants of the Missouri refused the offer and the House of Representatives would later on block the admission. The South were not pleased. They were unwilling to break their commitment to slavery and saw it was unfair that Missouri had be to upheld to conditions that other states were not. They even defended slavery by saying it was a “necessary evil” and that Christ himself gave sanction to slavery.