Page 1 of 8 Running head: PRESIDENTIAL TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES1 Presidential Triumphs and Failures During Reconstruction EraTrent M. AndersonDaymar CollegeAuthor NoteTrent M. Anderson, Associate’s Degree Business Program, Daymar CollegeTrent M. Anderson, is now in Bachelor’s Degree Business Program, Daymar College PRESIDENTIAL TRIUMPHS AND FAILURES2AbstractThere were two Presidents who had the difficult issues to be dealt with during the Reconstruction Era. During the Reconstruction Era there were three main plans. Abraham Lincoln offered his plan for reunification of the United States with his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. The citizens of the South had to take an oath of loyalty, and once 10% of the state had taken the oath …show more content…
Then finally, the Southern states had to enact plans that dealt with freeing the slaves if their freedom was not going to become compromised. The terms of Lincoln’s plans were easy for most of the South to handle, but some Confederates had a hard time with the emancipation of their slaves. With the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, Lincoln got the initiative for reconstruction from Congress. The Radical Republicans, however, thought that the South had gotten away easy due to the plan. Most accepted it due to Lincoln’s prestige and leadership style. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865, this caused friction over the post war reconstruction policy and led to a disagreement between the next President Andrew Johnson and Congress. Reconstruction Era led by Andrew JohnsonIn 1864, Abraham Lincoln selected Andrew Johnson as his Vice-President. Andrew Johnson was a Democratic senator from Tennessee. Lincoln was looking for Southern support and hoped that by making Johnson the Vice-President, it would have some appeal to Southerners who did not want to leave the Union. After Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson’s plans raised questions. Would he follow Lincoln’s approach to reconstruction? Would he support the black suffrage as Lincoln? Or would he follow the Radical Republicans and become extremely harsh towards the South? …show more content…
There were mobs of people who took over the streets in communities all throughout the South. Riots started in Memphis and New Orleans which ended up leaving many innocent black people dead. These violent acts angered the Northerners and made them say that President Johnson turned a blind eye. Johnson, of course, then blamed the Radical Republicans in Congress during his infamous “Swing Around the Circle.” This was when President Johnson traveled all around the country and gave speeches that criticized Republicans, as well as, pro-war Democrats and African Americans. This ended up hurting Johnson’s approach and the Democratic Party, rather than help them. Due to his vulgar comments, Northerners were persuaded to vote Republican in the congressional elections of 1866. After the elections of 1866, the Radical Republicans gained complete control over any policymaking in Congress. The due to all of the republican allies, they were able to gain control over the House of Representatives and the Senate. This gave them the power to override any potential vetoes that President Johnson made. All of the occurred in 1867 and created the beginning of Radical Reconstruction, or also known as Congressional Reconstruction. First and Second Reconstruction Acts.In March of 1867, Congress passed the First Reconstruction Act which was also known as the Military Reconstruction Act. This allowed the reduction of certain state’s conquered territories,
Reconstruction is during which the United States began to rebuild the Southern society after they lost to the civil war. It lasted from 1865 to 1877, and it was initiated by President Lincoln until his assassination in 1865. President Johnson continued Lincoln’s agenda to continue the Reconstruction. Throughout the process of Reconstruction, one of its main purpose was to guarantees for equal rights for all people, especially for the African Americans. Even though slavery was abolished after the civil war, many Southerners were still against the idea of equal rights for all black people, such as the Republicans.
The Radical Republicans believed in equal rights and opportunities for all African Americans and whites Andrew Johnson became the new president and congress hated him because he was a Southerner and was lenient
The traditional view on Reconstruction labeled it as a terrible point in the democracy of America. According to this view, Andrew Johnson, like Abraham Lincoln, wished to pardon the Confederates and reunite them with the Union. Radical Republicans, who wished to dominate the South, disposed of Johnson’s plan and gave power to former slaves, carpetbaggers, and southern whites who cooperated with the Republican Party of the North, all of which were unfit to lead southern governments. In the end, this angered many in the South, including the Ku Klux Klan, who claimed patriotism to restore white supremacy. With this take on the Reconstruction in mind, it is hard to see how Lincoln would have made a difference in the events that occurred.
1. “How did Lincoln and Johnson each approach reconstruction?” Johnson did not have Lincoln’s moral sense and political judgement when it came to reconstruction. “As wartime president, Lincoln had offered amnesty to all but high-ranking Confederates” (464). Lincoln had proposed that when ten percent of a rebellious states voters had sworn loyalty (taken an oath), then the state would be restored to the Union as long as it had approved the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery.
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 had predicted; but instead, installed a new president who was unable to negotiate Lincoln’s envisioned moderate “restoration” of the South, enraged Northern representatives in Congress, and evoked a punitive “reconstruction” of the South that would produce ill will between both sides for decades to
A few days after the civil War ended, President Lincoln was assassinated and never had the chance to implement his Reconstruction plan. The Reconstruction Era occurred in the period of 1865 to 1877 under the reign of President Andrew Johnson who was the predecessor of President Lincoln. Congress was not scheduled to convene until December 1865, which gave Johnson eight months to pursue his own Reconstruction policies. Under his Reconstruction policies, the former Confederate states were required to join back into the Union and heal the wounds of the nation.
As shown Andrew Johnson had many personal issues and things that he disliked about the Reconstruction plan and the rights that were being given to Blacks. His opinions are mainly what made him a limited leader and not very likable by the standards of most of the American people. The mindset and the way that people saw Johnson started to change in a bad way, once they saw how he truly felt. His thoughts on civil rights and political rights contradicted those of Lincoln’s which were embraced by many across the nation. Rules and regulations that Abraham Lincoln had wanted and designed were edited for the worse.
Finally the marking of the end of Reconstruction was the Election of 1876 and the new President Republican Hayes. Great upset to the Democrats their solution for Republicans to get anything done in congress was to make filibusters. With the constant and neverending interruption the two parties came to agree on the Compromise of 1877. This meant the removal of troops out of the south. This lead to the south once again being controlled by white Democrats.
The Reconstruction, one of the roughest and controversial era in American history, took place after the Civil War between 1865 and 1877. This began the process of bringing the Nation back together and giving former slaves equals rights by three new Constitutional amendments. From the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Lincoln’s goal was the restoration of the Confederate states to the Union. In 1863, Lincoln proposed the Ten Percent Plan that granted amnesty to those Confederate states which swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. It would have given a general pardon to all southerners excluding high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials.
Johnson also called for special state, abolish slavery, repudiate all debts incurred to aid the confederacy, and to ratify the 13th amendment. Many of Johnson's plans would divide congress and him. The election of 1866 widened that divide. This was bad for the nation since the president and congress had to agree for anything to happen. Congressional Reconstruction Plan: Congress wanted to replace Johnson's Reconstruction proclamation and is shown in the 14th Amendment.
However, he followed a much more moderate policy and allowed former Confederate officials to enter important government posts and Congress. He also pardoned many war criminals and did not carry out many war crime trials. He also did not forcefully pursue the agenda of societal reforms regarding race equality in Southern states and many Southern states enforced black codes that put freed black slaves at a much lower pedestal in society. His soft stance on these issues was viewed very negatively by Northerners who were already angry over Lincoln’s assassination at the hands of a Confederate apologist.
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 Reconstruction period lasted from 1865 to 1877. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were created during the twelve years of rebuilding the country. All of the amendments were made to protect former slaves and their rights but on paper they did not have any rights. The reconstruction period had its successes and failures.
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.
Reconstruction a Failure or Success? Throughout the years, America has gone through many different political changes. Many presidents selected with different plans for our future. Sadly, many of those objectives have failed or came to an end.