Reconstruction was a period of time dedicated to rebuilding the nation after the Civil War. The war ended with the South being defeated and their economy being devastated. Many Southerners struggled after the war with rebuilding their land and lives. The President and Congress had to decide the terms for which the former Confederate states would be permitted to join the Union. President Lincoln’s plan for reuniting the country was found in the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. He favored a moderate policy that would conjoin the South with the Union without any punishment for treason. Many resisted Lincoln’s plan, saying it was not harsh enough while others did not know if Lincoln was being too lenient. The Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans were caught in a conflict. One important event of the Reconstruction Period was the Wade-Davis Bill. This was formed by the Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans. The Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 required the majority of the adult white men in a former Confederate state to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. This would enable the state to hold a constitutional convention to create …show more content…
The devastation of the war and the collapse of the economy left an abundance of people unemployed, homeless, and hungry. In March 1865, Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Bureau was responsible for feeding and clothing war refugees in the South using surplus of army supplied. The Bureau issued nearly 30,000 rations a day for the next year. Additionally, the Bureau assisted formerly enslaved people find work on plantations. The Bureau could not provide African Americans with land, but it did contribute to education. Formerly enslaved African Americans were educated with the help of Northern charities. This was a positive outcome during
The Civil War and the period of Reconstruction brought significant political, social, and economic changes to American society, and these effects continued into the 20th century. Post Civil War (After the Civil War – The period after the Civil War) - President Abraham Lincoln and Congress were determined to rebuild the nation. Lincoln wanted to restore the Union by readmitting the southern states that had seceded, as well as provide African Americans with more rights. Period of Conflict -
Even though many federal officials understood that black sharecroppers (a resident farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent payment) were hit pretty harshly during the Great Depression, African Americans around 60 percent were denied access to unemployment insurance, government grants, social security benefits, elderly poor assistance, and so on. Administered by local politicians within the South, a large number of African Americans where basically not given any of the benefit from the New Deal relief programs. Ultimately further developing the black people’s
Teagan Crisamore 802 In this essay I will be explaining the pros and cons of each plan then explaining which one is better. In the Wade-Davis bill the cons were: Having to Pledge to the union and Only white males who didn 't fight could vote,President Lincoln did not like this plan but Wade Davis made President Lincoln realize he would have to compromise. The Wade Davis bill also made it hard for people to vote so they started looking at the 10% plan. In the 10% plan the pros were : Only 10% of voters had to pledge allegiance to the union , there would be a new constitution to ban slavery and offered amnesty to the southerners or official pardon for illegal acts supporting the rebellion.
Lincoln desired a lenient reconstruction plan that would allow Southern states more freedom to govern themselves as they re-pledged loyalty to the United States and abolished slavery. The Wade-Davis Bill was proposed by radicals and it called for the president to appoint leaders and allow only citizens who had not "who had never borne arms against the United State"(Brinkley pg. 347) to vote for officials in office. Lincoln 's leniency seemed to be a more peaceful approach that may have helped unite the states rather than cause further conflict. John Wilkes Booth, a radical Southern leader, ensured that the radical reconstruction plan, indeed was passed as Lincoln was the only one standing in the way of radical reconstruction. Andrew Johnson
The Bureau built hospitals for the freed slaves and gave direct medical aid to more than a million of them. As for education, the Freedmen’s Bureau built more than 1,000 african-american schools and helped assist with the funding of major african-american colleges. Under the leadership of General Howard, and backed by the military force, the Freedmen’s Bureau was the most or one of the most powerful instruments in Reconstruction. The Bureau was charged with
Congress tried to override Johnson’s veto but failed. The second bill the moderates proposed was the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This bill basically got rid
The President Lincoln’s interest in the matter of reconstructions, articulated in action throughout the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, changed the congress’ sentiment of unity to defeat the South. The radicals, as they called themselves, disliked the President Lincoln’s plan due to two reasons. First, the ten percent plan was very moderate i.e. it did not satisfy the sentiment of the North to the South, and considered such a plan to be easy going in comparison to the outcome of Southerner’s rebellion. Second, the radicals could see Abraham Lincoln’s edge of admission intended from the proclamation. Lincoln wanted to prepare the stage for a strong Republican party in the Southern section though he considered the obvious
In 1863, both President Lincoln and a group of legislators were working on plans for reconstruction. The President was working on his reconstruction policy, at the same time Congressman Davis and Senator Wade were presenting a bill to congress. Even though the desired outcome would have been the same, and there were similarities, there were a number of differences between the two. Some of these differences caused the President to veto Wade-Davis. President Lincoln was looking to get reconstruction going even before the war was officially won.
Maceo Cardinale Kwik Reconstruction Reconstruction was the twelve years after the civil war. Those twelve years were full of readjustment fixing the ruin the United States had fallen into. The problems that had the United states in disarray were how to, rebuild the South, reunite the states, and ensure the rights and protection of the newly freed African Americans. The civil war left the South in shambles, and newly freed slaves struggled to adjust to their new freedom. Most Southerners hated reconstruction and everything else about the North.
The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).
The Reconstruction Era occurred in 1865, it was was a period after the Civil War in which America was focused on rebuilding the broken South. In 1867, the Radical reconstruction gave former slaves a voice in government. During this era, formers slaves gained a platform in the government, with some blacks as Congressmen. However, not everyone supported the idea of Reconstruction. Less than a decade after the Reconstruction period, a small group composed of democratic ex-confederate veterans, white farmers and white southerners sympathetic to white supremacy joined forces together to form the Ku Klux Klan.
Reconstruction is the time period after the Civil War, where the country attempted to improve the Union. There were many successes, but what also comes along with success is failure. During the reconstruction many failures were present; such as the lack of racial equality and blatant racism towards blacks, a failing economy in the South, and tense relations between the North and the South. This created a very intense and challenging period of time for the Union.
Considering the trials African Americans had to endure during the Great Depression, such as having lower wages and being chosen last for job opportunities, it is clear that they would have been the ones to receive higher grants than white Americans. While FERA was meant to provide immediate relief, it still left many African Americans in the dark, while benefiting white
President Abraham Lincoln’s plan of reconstruction was referred to as the Ten Percent Plan. It offered the rebels a full pardon and also restoration of their full rights as citizens if they pledged to accept the abolition of slavery and swore allegiance to the United States. When the number of loyal citizens equaled ten percent of the votes cast during the election of 1860, then they could form a new state government and constitution. Lincoln required new constitutions to band slavery, exclude high ranking Confederate officials to take part in the new state government, and held the right of congress to decide whether any members sent to congress would be allowed to serve. Congress felt the plan was not harsh enough, so congress passed the Wade-Davis
Abraham Lincoln’s vs Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan Lincoln shared the uncommon belief that the confederate states could still be part of the union and that the cause of the rebellion was only a few within the states which lead him to begin the reconstruction in December of 1863. This resulted in plans with lenient guidelines and although they were challenged by Wade-Davis Bill, Lincoln still rejected his ideas and kept his policies in place. Lincoln also allowed land to be given the newly freed slave or homeless white by distributing the land that had been confiscated from former land owners however this fell through once Johnson took office. After Lincoln’s death when Johnson was elected many things started to turn away from giving blacks equal rights and resulted in many things such a black codes which kept newly freed slaves from having the same rights as whites. When Lincoln first acted after the civil war, he offered policies that would allow the confederate slaves to become part of the union again and would allow a pardon for those states.