American History

Reconstruction is a term used to refer to the work and effort that was put into reconstructing the United States during the period 1865-1877 after the Civil war. 11 Southern states had left the Union and after the Civil War, decisions had to be made on the legal, economic and political systems of such states and how the affairs of such states would be handled once they were readmitted into the union. There were a lot of challenges at this time after the civil war and they included issues having to do with politics, constitutional affairs and how to deal with former slaves as the Civil War between 1861 and 1865 had ended slavery. The politics revolved around the readmission of the South that had separated and caused the war, back into the union. In terms of the constitution, the issue was on who was to be in charge of the process and efforts of readmitting the South back into the Union (amicuss.net).

At the time, Abraham Lincoln was the President and even before the war ended, he had thought about the restoration of the Union. He therefore had his plans on how to effectively accomplish what he hoped to achieve, the restoration of the Union. He made a formal plan for reconstruction which he announced in 1963, thus the name, The Lincoln Reconstruction Plan. Not everyone agreed with President Lincoln on the direction and policies that he suggested for the reconstruction. Some Republicans thought that his idea was not hard enough on the South, but they would often accept it out of the respect that they had for him. Later on, after the death of Lincoln in 1865, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee succeeded him. He too came with his own ideas and the direction that he thought the reconstruction should take. However, he did not gain much favour with the so called Radical Republicans who consisted mostly of Northerners. This led to his impeachment and the reconstruction that followed was done by Congress. It is thus referred to as the Radical Reconstruction plan (amicuss.net).

The Lincoln plan and the Radical reconstruction plan can be compared and contrasted in a number of ways. President Lincoln did not get a chance to fully implement his reconstruction plan as he was assassinated before he got a chance to do so. The Radical reconstruction plan was the plan that eventually ended up being implemented much later after his successor, Andrews Johnson, was impeached. Both plans had different ways of approaching the same issues.

Under Lincolns reconstruction plan, he wanted more than just to provide a place for the former slaves to settle. Lincoln greatly appreciated the role that black soldiers had actively played and their achievements. The blacks had taken part in about 190 battles and roughly 68,000 black soldiers and sailors had died or been wounded in the process. Therefore, Lincoln aimed to bring advancement in terms of politics and economics to the black people. He was committed to black freedom and democracy. In his plan, he aimed to make all the states ban slavery and the states would have to be under the US Constitution. The Radical reconstruction plan also aimed at ensuring that the rights of blacks who were former slaves and were referred to as freedmen. These rights included both civil and political rights. This they ensured when Congress, in 1866, passed the Civil Rights Act. The 14th Amendment was also accepted and incorporated. Both of these measures ensured that the rights of all citizens irrespective of color were assured and that no state could violate those rights (Guisepi).

Under both Lincolns plan and the Radical reconstruction plan, it was required that a certain percentage of voters in the Confederate states take an oath of loyalty to the United States for them to be allowed to rejoin the union. On signing the oath, that state would be allowed to create a new government and have elections to decide on their representatives to Congress. In taking the oath, they would also be agreeing to abide by the U.S. Constitution. Both Lincoln and the radical republicans had this in their plans. The only difference was in the percentage. Lincoln suggested 10 of 1860 voters for his plan whilst the radical republicans wanted a majority and not 10 of the 1860 voters. The Wade-Davis Bill, which was passed in 1864, specifically needed 50 of male voters in the state (Guisepi).

Lincolns Reconstruction plan had the main focus of maintaining the union both during and after the war of. He wanted the South to be integrated back into the Union as easily and as fast as possible. He therefore did his best to welcome the South to rejoin the Union and made efforts to try and rebuild it. The radical republicans also saw the incorporation of Southern States back into the Union. Under the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, 10 Southern states excluding Tennessee which had earlier rejoined the Union were all taken back into the Union as from 1868 to 1870. However, there were differences in the methods and legislation that were followed in their readmission into the Union. However, similarity lay in the fact that in both plans, readmission of the Southern states back into the Union was part of the plan (SparkNotes).

The Lincoln and Radical reconstruction plans had differences. Most of these differences were due to the fact that the radical republicans thought that the Lincoln reconstruction plan was too moderate. Congress did not accept the plan. The radical republicans were driven by revenge and concerns regarding politics and freedom.

Under Lincolns plan in 1863, he declared a full pardon for people from the South apart from Confederate leaders in high positions and ranks plus a few others, if they were ready to abide by the United States Constitution and follow all federal laws that had to do with slavery. This was greatly opposed by Congress especially the Northerners. To the radical republicans, the plan was very lenient and they thought that pardons should not have been issued that easily to Southerners. They felt a lot of Northerners had suffered loss during the war and were in no way going to forget about it that quickly. Thus, another plan was proposed by the radical republicans, which they saw as a fair deal. They mainly wanted to make things hard for the individuals in the South who held large acres of land. They attempted this by distributing the land to male former slaves. Each of them was given 40acres and a mule. Under the reconstruction Acts of 1867, military districts totaling a number of 5, were set up in the South. Former Confederates were also considered as traitors and were not easily accepted into the union. The Southerners were thus coerced into accepting the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and had to alter their constitution to allow all adult men to vote (amicuss.net).

The radical reconstruction plan considered blacks as having equal rights and entitlement to political rights as any other person i.e. the white people. The Wade-Davis Bill that Congress passed in 1864 ensured that blacks had equal rights and had a right to vote. The Act required 50 of all male adult voters which included both whites and blacks to take the oath of loyalty. Under Lincolns plan, the requirement was 10 of white voters who had voted in 1860. Therefore, Lincolns plan was somehow discriminative on the former slaves. The overall plan however did ensure their freedom. The Radical reconstruction plan recognized the former slaves as individuals with rights (UShistory.org)

The two plans also differed in the appropriate way in which they would redistribute Southern land. President Lincoln and Congress did not see eye to eye on this matter. Initially, before his assassination, Lincoln had authorized generals with whom he had served in the war, to confiscate lands that would be used to resettle the former slaves. A Special Field Order No. 15 served to allocate land in South Carolina and Islands near Georgia for settling close to 40,000 former slaves. However, in 1865, Congress took a different approach by creating the Freedmans Bureau. It served to build schools, distribute food and supplies and the redistribution of land that had been confiscated to freedmen i.e. former slaves. It called for former slaves and poor whites to pledge loyalty to the Union and in return, they got a chance to own 40 acres of land through a lease from the bureau. An option was also provided for them to purchase the land after some years (SparkNotes).

Overall, the approach that the Radical and the Lincoln reconstruction plan took seems to be the main difference. Lincoln was for the idea of a peaceful means to achieve the goal of bringing the South back into the Union. The radical republicans were for a harsher approach. Radical republicans eventually had majority votes and were able to pass legislation to implement their plans. The reconstruction period is considered as a great opportunity that was missed for the U.S. society. The issues that brought concerns for political leaders at the time resurfaced a hundred years later in the Civil Rights Movement.