Lincoln And Johnson Approach To Reconstruction Essay

One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan became prominent in the south. however, this was no longer something reconstruction could help former slaves with. Eventually, Hayes was elected after Johnsons’ impeachment and the Reconstruction era ended. The reconstruction ended in 1877 due to the Compromise of 1877 and the pulling of republicans alongside union troops out of the deep south. though the reconstruction attempted to unify the country back together as one by allowing confederate states into the union under strict conditions, and to help former slaves by granting basic human rights there were still many issues present throughout the

Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln wanted to colonize blacks in the Southwest United States. England and France being close to joining the Confederacy and Northern casualties forced Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln was not happy that he had to do this saying he had “been anxious to avoid it”, that he was “driven to it”, that it was painful, and he was trembling while signing the document. The Emancipation Proclamation freed few slaves since it did not apply to slaves in the Border States and areas under federal control in the South. Lincoln freed slaves where he had no power and did nothing where he had power.

This loyalty was a significant characteristic of Southern Nationalism. The flag of the Confederacy was also another symbol of Southern Nationalism. “The Confederate government quickly became for the South, the successor to the federal government at Washington. A flag, the “ Stars and Bars,” was adopted for the new republic after a study by a committee that concluded that keeping the United States “Stars and Stripes” would be impractical and unpatriotic.” Southerners feared that white supremacy was in danger and feared slave rebellions.

President Lincoln developed a reconstruction plan called the “Ten Percent Plan”. This reconstruction plan offered general amnesty to former confederate supporters and to former confederates if they took an oath in which pledged allegiance to the Union and accepted the end of slavery. Also, after ten percent of a state’s voting population had taken that oath, the state could then set up its new government. After those requirements were completed, and the state outlawed slavery, the state could then be readmitted to the Union. The president felt that only some African Americans deserved the right to vote, with that he decided that only black men who served in the Union army, owned property, or could read would be allowed

“Buchanan, a Democrat who was morally opposed to slavery but believed it was protected by the U.S. Constitution, was elected”( Source #5)This quote explains how another president had the same mindset of Abraham but still couldn't officially end slavery. ”Taylor entered the White House at a time when the issue of slavery and its extension into the new western territories (including Texas) had caused a major rift between the North and South”(Source #7). This quote quote explains how other presidents made slavery worst. Although having different ideas than other presidents Abrahams’ assassination was unjustified because other American presidents did not make much changes or just made it worst. While Abraham Lincoln made on of the most important decisions by freeing the slaves.

In December 1863 Lincoln announced his Reconstruction Plan and decided that any state who seceded could be readmitted to the Union, but only if they accepted Presidential Decisions about slavery and took an oath of loyalty towards the Constitution. He also declared that once one tenth of voters had taken an oath, the state could elect new representatives to the Congress and begin a new government. The Plan was rejected by the Congress. After Lincoln 's death Vice-President Johnson became the President and was in charge of completing reconstruction. Johnson declared in December 1865 that every state whom agreed with the Thirteenth Amendment against slavery could join the Union.

President Andrew Johnson had very lenient policies for Reconstruction after the Civil War, which allowed southerners from the Confederate states to enact restrictive laws against blacks. These laws were called “Black Codes”, and were primarily designed to restrict African Americans’ labor and activity even though slavery had already been abolished. The Black Codes took away rights from African Americans that were guaranteed to them by the Fourteenth Amendment. For example, some states had laws that required African Americans to sign labor contracts each year and if they refused, they could be arrested, fined, or forced to work without pay. According to the fourteenth amendment, this was not allowed.

There have been many times where presidents of the United States make decisions that deal with critical problems of the nation. These actions have had varying rates of success. An example of this is the Nullification crisis in which South Carolina refused to honor the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 because they stated that they were unconstitutional. President Jackson had to revise the tariff so that everyone could agree on set taxes of imported goods and so that the country could focus on issues that would be more important in the long run. Another example is the Southern states’ secession from the United States.

After the Andrew Johnson’s resistance to reconstruction included bring Confederate states into the Union and letting the African American men vote. Under his held ideals of “white suffrage”. It pitted him in opposition against Congress; thus, his stubborn stance against Reconstruction is the real reason that lead to his impeachment hearing under the Tenure of Office Act of 1867, which is a federal law that passed by congress to restrict the power of the President remove people from office without the approval of the Senate, when he removed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton from his office. Reconstruction was the period following the Civil War, when the states of the Confederacy where the government controlled bringing them back into the union and gave rights to African Americans in the process. White suffrage simply meant: only white males could vote.

Before the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which set millions of slaves free, although many had to serve in the Army. Lincoln feared that congress would cancel the Emancipation Proclamation, so he decided to propose the Thirteenth Amendment, which was a more stable result (https://prezi.com/fiots83awse4/the-13th-amendment/). Liberals supported the ending of slavery, while Conservatives opposed the ending of slavery. Liberals supported giving citizenship to slaves that had been freed, while Conservatives opposed giving citizenship to freed slaves. Liberals were all for the right to vote for all while Conservatives were against the right to vote for

Even with his clever plan Lincoln still faced some problems with Radical Republicans who felt that the South should be roughly disciplined and reconstructed. Eventually Lincoln and the Radical Republicans began to work together until they eventually agreed to the creation of a new amendment, the 13th amendment, which stated "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. " The 13 amendment was

When Abraham Lincoln became President there was a fear from the southerners that the southern way of life would end. The southerners thought that if the western territories became free states that the Republicans would change the Constitution and make slavery in all areas outlawed and many thought that they would leave the Union before this inflicted upon them. The southerners held back from the division until 1860 when Lincoln became President. In history it is known that South Carolina was the first state that began the secession. “On December 20, 1860, a state convention repealed South Carolina’s ratification of the U.S. Constitution and voted to withdraw from the Union.

But that was not the outcome, due to the untimely demised of President Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Vice President who was sworn in shortly after the death of President Lincoln. Now that he is president, he created some unfair laws for the freed slaves. Lincoln thought it could have been practical to merge both races together by

Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 aroused the Southern slave states. Those states saw the Republicans as people who were not supportive of keeping the institution of slavery alive in the South. Lincoln effectively demonstrates why the south should not fear if he were to be president. Lincoln wanted to calm the leaders of these states and keep them from seceding from the United States, so he tried to put them at ease in his “First Inaugural Address”.