HIST 405N Week 4 Discussion 2 Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1877

Sample Answer

The United States embarked on a Reconstruction era with the end of Civil War where former rebel states were allowed back in the Union. Multiple reunification plans were proposed including Lincoln’s ten percent plan, Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction plan, and the Congressional reconstruction plan (OpenStax. (2019).

Lincoln’s ten percent plan gave a pardon to all Southerner’s with the exception of high-ranking military leaders and Confederate government officials. The aforementioned exceptions needed 10 percent of the 1860 voter population in order to take a binding oath of loyalty to the US and emancipation of slaves. The plan gave rise to conflict with a large number of Republicans who wanted to punish the rebel Southern states, known as the Radical republicans. They believed the plan dealt too moderately with the traders and demanded harsher repercussions (Barney, William L.).

Following Lincoln’s assassination, Vice President Andrew Johnson adopted Lincoln’s methods of reincorporated the Southern states- the goal was a speedy reunion with minimal consequences. President Johnson’s Amnesty and Reconstruction in May 1865 provided sweeping amnesty and pardon to rebellious southerners. I returned them their property, with the notable exception of their former slaves, and it only asked that they affirm their support for the constitution of the United States (Barney, William L.).

Those excluded from the amnesty were high ranking military personnel and confederate officials as well as persons with taxable property greater than $20,000. Again, Johnson’s plan was not favorable with the Radical Republican’s in congress and instead created their own representatives to develop a reconstruction plan (Barney, William L.).

The congressional reconstruction plan or Radical Reconstruction acts represented the Radical Republican’s views in Congress. All Southern states were divided into five constitutions and ratify the fourteenth amendment in order to rejoin the Union. The Acts were vetoed by President Johnson but later overruled by congress (OpenStax. (2019).

Two opposing viewpoints are demonstrated when comparing the three Reconstruction plans. On One hand we have a merciful approach. Treating the southern states as a defeated nation worthy of unionizing. on the other hand, the radical Republican approach is to treat the South as rebellious states deserving of punishment. To say which of these were correct is merely a preference; personally, I would choose the route of Abraham Lincoln and his predecessor Andrew Johnson. I” In short, the terms of the plan were easy for most Southerners to accept.

Though the emancipation of slaves was an impossible pill for some confederate’s or swallow, Lincoln’s plan was charitable considering the costliness of war” (OpenStax. (2019). President Lincoln Ultimately believed the succession of the Southern states was illegal from its initial offense and therefore treated the rebel states as continued members of the Union; with that been said Lincoln’s rationale to reincorporate the southern states as quickly as possible without generating animosity was the best route to achieving reconstruction.

References

• Barney, William L. “The Civil War and Reconstruction A Student Companion.” Oxford University Press, 2001, www.history.com/Companion-Civil-War-Reconstruction/dp/144433882X.
• OpenStax. (2019). U.S. history. OpenStax CNX. Retrieved from https //openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/14-1-the-compromise-of-1850e (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.