Events
Lincoln issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
Congress passes Wade-Davis Bill; Lincoln pocket-vetoesit
Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse
Abraham Lincoln
16thU.S. president; proposed Ten-Percent Plan for Reconstruction in 1863;assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in 1865
Andrew Johnson
17thU.S. president; was vice president in Lincoln’s second term and becamepresident upon Lincoln’s assassination
Key People
Plans for Reconstruction
After major Union victories at the battles of Gettysburgand Vicksburg in 1863,President Abraham Lincoln began preparing his plan for Reconstruction toreunify the North and South after the war’s end. Because Lincolnbelieved that the South had never legally seceded from the Union,his plan for Reconstruction was based on forgiveness. He thus issuedthe Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863 toannounce his intention to reunite the once-united states. Lincolnhoped that the proclamation would rally northern support for thewar and persuade weary Confederate soldiers to surrender.
The Ten-Percent Plan
Lincoln’s blueprint for Reconstruction included the Ten-Percent Plan,whichspecified that a southern state could be readmitted into the Uniononce 10 percent ofits voters (from the voter rolls for the election of 1860)swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. Voters couldthen elect delegates to draft revised state constitutions and establishnew state governments. All southerners except for high-ranking Confederatearmy officers and government officials would be granted a full pardon.Lincoln guaranteed southerners that he would protect their privateproperty, though not their slaves. Most moderate Republicans inCongress supported the president’s proposal for Reconstruction becausethey wanted to bring a quick end to the war.
In many ways, the Ten-Percent Plan was more of a political maneuverthan a plan for Reconstruction. Lincoln wanted to end the war quickly.He feared that a protracted war would lose public support and thatthe North and South would never be reunited if the fighting didnot stop quickly. His fears were justified: by late 1863, alarge number of Democrats were clamoring for a truce and peacefulresolution. Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan was thus lenient—an attemptto entice the South to surrender.
Lincoln’s Vision for Reconstruction
President Lincoln seemed to favor self-Reconstructionby the states with little assistance from Washington. To appealto poorer whites, he offered to pardon allConfederates; to appeal to former plantation owners and southernaristocrats, he pledged to protect private property. Unlike RadicalRepublicans in Congress, Lincoln did not want to punish southernersor reorganize southern society. His actions indicate that he wantedReconstruction to be a short process in which secessionist statescould draft new constitutions as swiftly as possible so that the UnitedStates could exist as it had before. But historians canonly speculate that Lincoln desired a swift reunification, for hisassassination in 1865 cuthis plans for Reconstruction short.
Louisiana Drafts a New Constitution
White southerners in the Union-occupied state of Louisiana metin 1864—beforethe end of the Civil War—to draft a new constitution in accordancewith the Ten-Percent Plan. The progressive delegates promised freepublic schooling, improvements to the labor system, and public worksprojects. They also abolished slavery in the state but refused togive the would-be freed slaves the right to vote. Although Lincolnapproved of the new constitution, Congress rejected it and refusedto acknowledge the state delegates who won in Louisiana in the electionof 1864.
The Radical Republicans
Many leading Republicans in Congress feared that Lincoln’splan for Reconstruction was not harsh enough, believing that theSouth needed to be punished for causing the war. These RadicalRepublicans hoped to control the Reconstruction process,transform southern society, disband the planter aristocracy, redistributeland, develop industry, and guarantee civil liberties for formerslaves. Although the Radical Republicans were the minority partyin Congress, they managed to sway many moderates in the postwaryears and came to dominate Congress in later sessions.
