...even for a strong man like Lincoln, but when Johnson, inexperienced in politics takes over the task become more or less impossible. Lincoln's assassination had a negative impact on the country after the Civil War because the South would have been better off with Lincoln's plan and Johnson accomplished nothing during his presidency. Lincoln's plan for governmental Reconstruction was flawless, until Johnson came along and ruined it. Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction was fair and peaceful; consequently he released the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863. He believed the proclamation would muster northern support for the war and meanwhile persuade tiring Confederate soldiers to give up (Coyne and Bolotin). The proclamation permitted full pardons to all Southerners - except high-ranking...
Words: 1512 - Pages: 7
...The Reconstruction Era The Reconstruction Era was a rebuilding period in American history following the Civil War. After winning the war in 1865, the Union states began the exhausting process of reconstructing the United States, as well as each side's belief system. The two main goals of this era in American history was to ensure basic civil rights to former slaves, as well as reunite the North and the South to form one Union again. However, with each side having it's own agenda, accomplishing those goals proved to be quite a task. During the Reconstruction Era, several factions of American politics formed within the Republican and Democratic parties. The most noted include the Radical Republicans, Southern Conservatives, and the Southern Freedmen. Radical Republicans demanded extreme policies be put in place for Confederate states, and stressed the civil rights and liberties of former slaves. Although their agenda compared well to Lincoln's, the Radicals wanted to make re-entry into the Union a difficult one for the Confederate states. Another faction formed, the Southern Conservatives, believed the south would rise again to its former economic status, and wanted little to no rights for African-Americans. The last faction, the Southern Freedmen, saw the greatest success for ensuring the basic civil rights to former slaves. Made up of former slaves and supported by whites who believed African-Americans should have equal rights and civil liberties, the Freedman's Bureau, initiated...
Words: 774 - Pages: 4
...After the Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 gave countless of slaves their freedom, however, the process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period introduced a new set of significant challenges for the United States. President Lincoln began to prepare his plans for Reconstruction to reunite the South back to the United States even though Lincoln did not believe the South never seceded. Lincoln approach on the South was forgiving he created the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863 in order to pardon in the south. Lincoln’s planned to action was called the 10 percent plan (cite) which only the president could pardon the people that took part of Confederates it only require ten percent of the voters swear an oath...
Words: 299 - Pages: 2
...Reconstruction • Lincoln dies - Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, becomes president Johnson the Politician • Johnson owned a few slaves and defended slavery and "states' rights" • But he was a small time farmer who did not own slaves early in his life. • He got elected by protecting the rights of non-slaveholding yeoman farmers • He proposed the Homestead Act • But he cared more about the Union than he did about slavery, so when the South seceded, he was the only Southern senator to remain loyal to the Union • That is why the republicans chose him to be Lincoln’s vice-presidential candidate in the 1864 election, so that border states with large slave-holding populations would vote for the Republican candidate • But when Lincoln died, Johnson implemented his own Reconstruction Plan during the first 8 months of his term as president. (It was based on Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan”) Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • Handed out thousands of pardons to Confederate soldiers and politicians • Enforced Lincoln’s plan to admit states if they ratified the 13th Amendment • Took back the land promised to the slaves of Edisto Island, South Carolina (“40 Acres and a Mule”) • But, Johnson's plan left rebuilding the South in the hands of the same people who controlled the Southern governments during slavery • “States Rights” , to Johnson, meant not just letting the South rebuild what the Union army destroyed...
Words: 774 - Pages: 4
...Appomattox Courthouse, it was obvious that making amends between the conflicting regions was going to be a difficult task. Reconstruction was a period plagued by conflict because there was no precedent or blueprints on how to deal with secession because the Founding Fathers never thought it would happen. There were several different ideas on how to go about Reconstruction, but they all conflicted with one another. I agree with these different plans by Lincoln, Johnson, and Congress to a certain extent, the Reconstruction policies were mediocre and could have been improved, Southern resistance was provoked but not justified, and lastly the most lasting impact of Reconstruction was the increase...
Words: 1423 - Pages: 6
...Reconstruction is the period that follows the civil war and is known as the rebuilding of the United States. It was a time full of great pain. Even after the military conflict ended reconstruction was still a war in many different ways. The struggle was waged by radical northerners who wanted to punish the Southerners who greatly wanted to preserve their way of life. Was reconstruction a success or a failure? In many ways, it was both. Reconstruction was a success because it restored the United States. Reconstruction also settled the states’ rights vs. federalism debate that was an issue since the 1970s. (Reconstruction, UShistory.org) In other ways Reconstruction was known as a failure. Radical Republican legislation initially failed to defend former slaves from white discrimination and failed to create changes to the South. The sharecropping system, which was a legal form of slavery that kept African Americans secured to land owned by wealthy white farmers, became common in the South. With minute economic power, African Americans had to fight for their rights by themselves,...
Words: 1180 - Pages: 5
...From 1861 to 1865 the Civil War waged on in North America leaving the country divided between the North and the South. Abraham Lincoln feared the division would cause the country to remain separated. He came up with a plan to rebuild and reunite America, it was the plan of Reconstruction. There were two goals for Reconstruction. The main goal was to unify the country. The second goal was to better integrate blacks into society. From 165 to 1877 America went through this era of reunification and overall, the main goal of Reconstruction was successful, but the second goal was not. President Lincoln’s original plan for Reconstruction was the 10 percent plan; this required that 10 percent of the voters in each southern state swore their allegiance...
Words: 403 - Pages: 2
...1.5.3 Test (TS): Post Civil War America! ! ! Test! U.S. History since the Civil War Sem 1 (S2561969)! ! ! SU14-Alex Sanford! Points possible: 60! ! ! ! ! ! Unit Six Big Question: What were the social and political consequences of the Civil War? What factors led to the expansion of the United States during the period after the Civil War, and what were the effects of expansion?! Section 1: Short Answer Questions (30 points)! Write multi-sentence responses for the prompts below. Be specific and give examples from the history we have learned.! A. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution changes laws for the entire country. Three amendments changed laws especially for African Americans. Explain how each of the following amendments changed the law for African Americans. (10 points total)! ! a. Thirteenth Amendment (3 points)! ! ! The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It freed all African Americans and prevented them from being forced to return to slavery.! ! ! b. Fourteenth Amendment (4 points)! ! ! ! c. Fifteenth Amendment (3 points)! ! ! ! The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. All African Americans were now counted for purposes of representation.! The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and...
Words: 1102 - Pages: 5
...The point the Reconstruction failed in my opinion is the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Unfortunately, President Lincoln’s death was the beginning of the decline of the Reconstruction. President Lincoln had a Ten Percent Plan of reconstruction that provided amnesty to Confederates that would support and claim loyalty to the Union (Schultz, 2013). Once the state reached ten percent loyalty the state would be given rights to reenter the federal government. While the Ten Percent Plan was considered extremely lenient by most politicians Lincoln knew that he had to rebuild the nation quickly to have chance of creating a strong cohesive government. Additionally, President Andrew Johnson was not a natural born leader like...
Words: 317 - Pages: 2
...Lincoln’s assassination set a series of events in order that would cause John Wilkes Booth to be hated by Southerners because of what he caused by his act of violence against the federal government. Vice President Andrew Johnson, who nobody seemed to like would now become President of the United Sates and would have to handle the chaos that the assassination caused around the nation. Booth and his actions caused Edwin Stanton to conduct the first nationwide police investigation for the assassin and his accomplices with the use of evidence and interrogations of known suspects. The manhunt for Booth was a massive and unprecedented one never before seen in American history. All who supported Booth and his actions were to be punished swiftly and harshly...
Words: 826 - Pages: 4
...Following the end of the Civil War, the United States entered a period known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction was essentially a time that was aimed at rebuilding and unifying the United States. This, however, was not at all an easy task. The United States was still trying to recover from the devastating, painful repercussions that had been embedded in the hearts and minds of countless people. Nevertheless, the nation needed to be restored and/or rebuilt immediately. The Reconstruction Era set out to do just that. It was a time that posed many debates and questions. For instance, what role would the federal government have in securing civil rights? In addition, what would the stipulations be in permitting the Confederate states to rejoin the Union and what should be done with the emancipated slaves? There were ultimately three main plans laid out in order to crack the many unanswered questions. The plans were as follows: President Lincoln’s Plan, President Johnson’s Plan, and Congress’s Plan. Ultimately,...
Words: 1014 - Pages: 5
...The reconstruction era of the United States lasted from 1865 after the end of the Civil War to the beginning of President Hayes term. There were three main plans for reconstruction, Lincoln’s plan, Johnston’s plan and the Radical Republican’s plan. Lincoln’s plan included amnesty to Southerners who took a oath of loyalty to the United States with the exception of some, and that when ten percent of a state’s voters in the 1860 presidential election had taken the oath the state could organize a new government. Johnston’s plan required states to ratify the thirteenth amendment and offered amnesty to Southerners who took a vote of loyalty except former high ranking confederate leaders and those with over 20,000 dollars of property. The Radical...
Words: 503 - Pages: 3
...The American Reconstruction occurred between the years of 1865-1877, when the American government tried to reunite and build the country back up again. As the Civil War ended, the South was in ruin and many of the large plantations were destroyed and no longer had their free labor. The economy and wealth in the South had been destroyed. The government now had to face the great task of rebuilding the South, uniting the North and the South into one cohesive unit and integrating into society the African-Americans, who had been enslaved for so many years. These were not small tasks to accomplish and while there was hope, the reconstruction era failed to achieve these goals. There are two main reasons why these goals were not met. The first was that President Lincoln had shown great leadership during this time and held much promise, but was assassinated before he could complete his job. The second was that although it once looked promising, there were not enough measures put into place to integrate and equalize the former slaves. Although the reconstruction era began to rebuild after the Civil War, it was not able to achieve all of its goals. It took many years after the era to finally unite the States and have...
Words: 840 - Pages: 4
...accept the war won victory of the North. Among these was a Maryland native and famed actor, John Wilkes Booth, who developed plans during the war to kidnap Lincoln and his advisors and hold them as bargaining chips. The end of the war did not quash Booth’s plans, in fact, it only strengthened and modified them. He blamed Lincoln for all that had befallen the south and conspired with a group of friends to kill Lincoln, Vice President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State William Seward and General Ulysses S. Grant on April 14, 1865. His cohorts did not complete their end of the plan, but on that night, Booth entered Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theater and shot the 16th President in the head and changed the course of history. The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth was not successful in protecting the South after the Civil War as Booth predicted; but instead, enraged Northern representatives in Congress, installed a new president who was unable to negotiate Lincoln’s envisioned moderate “restoration” of the South, and evoked a punitive “reconstruction” that would produce ill will between both sides for decades to come. Lincoln offered moderate terms for the seceded states to re-enter the union prior to Lee’s surrender. Confederates would only have to vow an oath of loyalty to the Union to receive their pardon. States where ten percent of the voting population of 1860 voted to swear loyalty to the Union and abolish slavery would be readmitted with government...
Words: 1831 - Pages: 8
...slavery, the nation evolved into a Civil War. The election of Republican Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 had caused southern states to secede from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. The south felt out-numbered from partisan radical politics. The war between the South and North was a four-year awful and destructive war. After the war had ended in 1865, there were 750,000 soldiers dead from both sides. Slavery was abolished by the thirteenth amendment, the union had won, but the nation was still divided economically, politically and socially. The people, land and property of the South were devastated. Besides the challenge of readmitting the southern states into the union, there were plans made to reconstruct the defeated south. Reconstruction hinged on resolving the political, economic and social issues. The terms that the South had agreed to in order or rejoin the Union had an important impact on both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party took advantage of the south’s absence from Congress. The Radical Republicans from the north divided the Democratic Party after the victories in the elections of 1860 and 1864. Latter on the south was removed from the Electoral College. Both the Republicans and democratic leaders were fearful that readmitting the South would reunite the Democratic south and weaken the newly established stronger Republican Party. The Democrats in Congress passed a program that had a drastic impact on...
Words: 1851 - Pages: 8
