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Lincoln's Plan For Reconstruction Essay

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Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction were shaped by his view of the Civil War. He believed that it was unconstitutional for the Confederacy to secede. He therefore did not recognize the Confederacy as ever having been a “separate” country from the United States.

In 1864, the Civil War was nearly over, and President Lincoln wanted to reunite the country as quickly as possible. He began to develop a plan for Reconstruction to achieve his goal. He even chose a southerner, Andrew Johnson, as his running mate during the 1864 election because he felt that this would improve the relationship between the Union states and the Confederate states.

The first part of Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was to offer amnesty to the former Confederate states. …show more content…
Under this plan, a former Confederate state could establish a new government and become part of the Union again as long as 10% of the state’s voters signed an oath pledging their loyalty to the United …show more content…
According to some members of the Republican Party, President Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was too lenient to the former Confederacy. This group of Republicans controlled Congress at the end of the Civil War and was known as the Radical Republicans. The Radical Republicans had two goals for Reconstruction: punish the former Confederates and promote the well-being of African Americans.

What motivated the Radical Republicans’ plan for Reconstruction? Since the Confederates had attacked Fort Sumter, Radical Republicans blamed the Confederacy for starting the Civil War. The Radical Republicans saw the former Confederates as traitors deserving of blame.

The Radical Republicans advocated for the equality of African Americans because many of the Radical Republicans were ardent abolitionists. Thaddeus Stevens, a representative from Pennsylvania, and Charles Sumner, a senator from Massachusetts, were two Radical Republican leaders who did not want slavery to be reimplemented after the Civil War.

In 1863, the Radical Republicans pushed for a bill that would outlaw slavery throughout the United States. However, it took two years for this bill to be ratified by both houses of Congress; this bill became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on December 6,

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