Abraham Lincoln's plan |
Andrew Johnson's plan |
During the Civil War, Lincoln announced a plan that would be lenient on the Southern states and favored extending the right to vote to freedmen. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, however, and therefore did not live to see the days of Reconstruction
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Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, was a slaveholder from Tennessee. Although a slaveholder, he was not rich and came from a modest upbringing, and therefore resented the rich plantation owners.
When he became president, he created his own plan for Reconstruction. This included giving the white South the freedom to establish their own governments. Many Northerners felt Johnson's plan would reduce the newly freed African Americans to conditions similar to slavery, while allowing the former white "rebels" of the South to regain political power. Johnson did not consider African Americans to be equal to whites. He hoped for reconciliation between the North and South as quickly as possible with as little change to the South as necessary. His plans brought him under scrutiny from Northerners and Congress--they felt he was being too sympathetic to the South. Congress vetoed his proposals and even tried to impeach him from office. |
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During Reconstruction, the South was divided into 5 military districts occupied by Northern troops to ensure that southern states were complying to the new policies.
By 1877, Northern troops left the South and local governments returned to local white southern rule. Former Confederate leaders could vote and state legislatures of the south immediately tried to keep African Americans from voting and participating in society. |