After the Civil War, the North was determined to help rebuild the South, leading to a period of Reconstruction in 1865-1877. During this period, states that had seceded from the Confederacy were put under the control of the federal government before being readmitted to the Union. Abraham Lincoln and, later, his successor Andrew Johnson developed plans of reintegration of the South into the country. This plan presupposed the division of the south states into five military districts, the creation in each of them of a new state Constitution, and the ratification of the 14th amendment. This paper hypothesizes that Johnson’s reconstruction plan did not get support because it was seen as too lenient by Radical Republicans in Congress. They insisted on establishing military control over the rebellious states, punishing separatists with deprivation of civil rights, and granting constitutional rights to freed slaves.
Johnson ‘s reconstruction plan relied heavily on Lincoln’s previous legislation that granted amnesty to those who swore allegiance to the Union and promised to comply with federal slavery laws. Once 10 percent of a state’s qualified voters had sworn allegiance to the Union, that state could form a government and send its representatives to Congress. Moreover, high-ranking Confederate officials were supposed to get presidential pardons to exercise their political rights. Johnson extended this position to include anyone with wealth over $20,000 to the list of people demanding presidential pardons. Although Johnson advocated the gradual introduction of suffrage for Afro-Americans, he, like Lincoln, did not insist on it as an urgent requirement.
There was no unity in society on all the fundamental issues of the post-war structure. The internal political situation has sharply escalated, leading to an escalation in both the intra-party and inter-party struggle. Johnson’s plan for restoration in the southern states provoked resistance from the broad masses of farmers, workers, artisans, and representatives of democratic circles throughout the country. The left wing of the Republican Party tried to remove Johnson from the reconstruction of the South and entrust them to a special Congressional committee. In 1868, radical Republicans tried to impeach the president for connivance in the use of the presidential office. Opposing the plantation reaction, they acted in the interests of the middle strata of the West and the financial and industrial circles of the North, interested in strengthening liberal market mechanisms.
References
Lazarova, M. (2018). The Presidential Reconstruction in the USA From a Plan to Real Politics. Bulgaria, the Bulgarians and Europe – Myth, History, Modernity, 11(1).