The Wade Davis Bill: Reconstruction In The Confederate States

Many “Radical Republican” did not like the ten percent plan because they basically thought that Lincoln was being too nice, and they wanted to the southern states to feel the wrath of their wrong-doings. The bill was created in 1864, and kind of restated Lincoln’s plan, but now with an increase of the percentage to 50! The bill however did not get passed because Lincoln would not sign it (pocket veto). Congress then created the Freedmen's Bureau. 3.Military Reconstruction Act of 1867: the Reconstruction Act of 1867 was basically Congress’s start to Reconstruction.

On June 2 1865 the United States entered into its bloodiest battle it had ever gotten into since the founding of the country. Over 600,000 people died in battle and all over the issue of slavery. When the civil war was over many thought that slavery had ended and that black people would get the freedom that had been wanting. Although the civil war had ended, white southerners kept African Americans as slaves under new laws passed called Black Codes. After the civil war, African Americans wanted more rights and more freedom.

During the reconstruction period, there were many acts that were passed to protect citizens equality and basic rights. Eventually the fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to black slaves in 1868. Giving all native-born and naturalized citizens the right to vote too. Also, the fifteenth Amendment gave black slaves the right to vote in 1869. In 1875 the U.S passed another Civil Rights Act.

Opposing the Presidential reconstruction was the Radical Reconstruction. The Radical Reconstruction was run by the Republicans from the north, who believed that African-Americans deserved the same political

They wanted the South to lose their rights and not get back their lands confiscated by the Union. Johnson worked against the Radical Republicans by vetoing the Freedman's Aid Bill, the Civil Rights Bill, and blocking the 14th amendment that gave African-Americans U.S. citizenship. The Freedman’s Act was going to extend the life of the Freedmen's Bureau, a War Department agency that helped African-Americans and white people as well. Congress tried to overturn Johnson’s veto, but they were not successful at doing so. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a bill that extended citizenship to freed slaves and guaranteed them "equal protection of the laws."

Numerous races have faced oppression all around the world. Africans faced severe oppression in America, which resulted in The Civil War. The Civil War gave rise to a number of plans to be written with the purpose of saving America after the horrors of the war. The Wade-Davis Bill was a harsher plan than some of those presented, however, it could have solved the most difficult issues facing the new Union after The Civil War. The Wade-Davis Bill was the best choice and would have provided peace and a firmer hold on the rebellious states and people.

The Black Codes were legal codes set into place, primarily by the Southern states, in the interest of opposing the reality of free colored slaves. Essentially, the Black Codes were passed as a means of dealing with the situation regarding the emancipation of slaves. The Black Codes dealt with vagrancy, apprenticeship, labor contracts, and civil & legal rights. In regards to the laws of vagrancy, each state expressed their definition of the word “vagrant.” These definitions, as well as other laws, sometimes specifically applied to colored people, or as most of the time, they were stated in general terms that were intended to fit the “Negro’s condition” and to be enforced with regard to colored people.

This amendment freed all enslaved people in all states and abolished the act of slavery in all and could now be punishable for any non-involuntary servitude. This effort, over time, marked the end of slavery all over the United States and united the Confederacy back with the Union, but this also caused a chain of racism throughout the country. The government's efforts to solve slavery were successful because they solved that civic problem but caused a chain of racism which caused more civic

The South designed codes to restrict African American free lives styles. These codes angered Northerners and they even refused to seat Congressmen and senators from the South. Congress began taking a hold of the Radical Reconstruction reigns. They passed the Reconstruction act of 1867 which forced all southern states to ratify the

President Johnson was a supporter of state rights so he was not going to say or do anything. To him, the power to decide what to do with the newly free African-American was in the hands of the states. But when the Congress had a majority of Republicans after the election, it decided to overrule the southern states and with that, the period called Radical Reconstruction began. First, there was the Civil Rights Act in 1866, passed despite Johnson 's veto. There was no doubt anymore that freedmen were citizens and were to be treated as such. "

These codes varied based on the states, but included aspects such as denying African Americans the right to vote, serve on juries, testify in court against southern whites, own property, attend public schools, and also included a mandate where they were forced to work low income, non-desirable jobs. This was not at all a more desirable situation for the freedmen in the south than they had when they were enslaved, so they had to turn again to the Northern leadership for help. At a convention in Alexandria, Virginia, a group of black men urged the North to help because they stood side by side with each other and fought for the same things in the war, and that nothing but military protection would protect the freedmen from falling back into what southern whites believed to be “their rightful

The Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 required the majority of the adult white men in a former Confederate state to take an oath of allegiance to the Union. This would enable the state to hold a constitutional convention to create

Although he was a Southerner, Johnson had supported the Union during the Civil War. President Johnson relatively went in a different direction than his predecessor. He, like Lincoln, wanted to reunite the North and South after the war ended. Lincoln’s plan to reconstruct the South was based on forgiveness. But, Johnson had his own ideas about rebuilding the South.

The American civil war led to the reunion of the South and the North. But, its consequences led the Republicans to take the lead of reconstructing what the war had destroyed especially in the South because it contained larger numbers of newly freed slaves. Just after the civil war, America entered into what was called as the reconstruction era. Reconstruction refers to when “the federal government established the terms on which rebellious Southern states would be integrated back into the Union” (Watts 246). As a further matter, it also meant “the process of helping the 4 million freed slaves after the civil war [to] make the transition to freedom” (DeFord and Schwarz 96).

After Lincoln got assassinated, Andrew Johnson became president. During the summer of 1865 Johnson planned his reconstruction plan, and in his reconstruction said that states had to agree with the 13th amendment ( which abolished slavery ). February 1866 Congress passed the freedmen’s bureau and this gives the military responsibility for protecting the blacks, but Johnson vetoed the bill, surprising many republicans. Congress enacts the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on April 1866. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 means… “ it grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and guarantees them equal rights under the law.”