We've recently been discussing the problems facing the United States after the Civil War and President Lincoln's Plan addressing some of those problems. Evaluate Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction, describing how well it dealt with each issue and its fairness to Union and Confederates alike.
24 Comments
Damesha Bailey
1/5/2012 05:23:35 am
Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction I believe started with the amnesty proclamation plan, it was fair to the confederates by giving them another chance and only allowing them to swear to support the Constitution and the Union. However, for the Union it wasn't fair at all since they just got finish fighting the confederates and the have many differences with the southerns. And to the Union, Lincoln's unfairness was because he was too soft on the Confederates. The amnesty plan did not really deal with the issue that the Union and the Confederates. The Union felt like the Confederates should be punished harshly for their actions and the amnesty did not follow that desire. The second part of Abe's reconstruction was punishing only the officials of the Confed. That was unfair to the confed. since not only was the officials at fault, but also the soilders that followed after them. The union might of been proud of it, but it was a one sided deal.
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Sophia Perry
1/5/2012 06:08:12 am
Lincoln wanted the United States to become just that, united. He started with amnesty plan in an attempt to win large numbers of confederates back over to the Union. His plan was to get the states back to the antebellum government state that they were in. I don't think was fair to either group of people though. All the southern states had no recongnized government. Their southern one had been torn apart and the only way to have their views know was for the to pledge loyalty to the North. Prejudices and hatred still exsisted on both sides towards the other so neither really wanted to unite themselves with the "enemy".
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Sophia Perry
1/5/2012 06:09:17 am
I agree with Damesha. Lincoln started with a good plan to try and unite the country again but neither side was happy with his plan which created more problems than it solved.
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Kayla C. Johnson
1/5/2012 06:16:03 am
Lincoln’s Amnesty Plan, although slightly lenient, was a fair contrivance to sew the weak nation together again. While it did not satisfy the Radicals’ craving for harsh punishment or polish southern pride, the plan bonded the Union together, which was the big picture. To a crippled former Confederacy, a 10% vote was not asking too much for a ticket back into the Union. Any more than that, and Yankee animosity would only increase since it would be like begging. The Amnesty Plan also provided fairly to the Union’s side of the deal as well. They took the opportunity to ensnare Confederate government officials, officers, and members of congress as a final counterinsurgency towards the south. Not every soul was thrilled with these notions but neither side came out too much on top. So it was generally fair enough.
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Rikki Dressman
1/5/2012 07:28:31 am
Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction began with amnesty. He wanted to unite the states; confederates or not. He made southerners take an oath in order to become part of the Union again.Though weak, the country was slowly coming back together. Lincoln's plan was very lienient in the eyes of Northerners, thus creating the Radical Republicans.
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Joy Kleisinger
1/6/2012 07:28:57 am
I agree with Rikki. Lincoln's plan was a good effort, but did not really work. No matter what Lincoln did, he could never please both sides. The country was separated, and would stay so until people could accept their differences.
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Rikki Dressman
1/5/2012 07:30:24 am
I agree with Sophia. The problems were never solved completely at this time period. Lincoln was overwhelmed with both the North's and the South's complaints about each other. Lincoln couldn't win. Neither side was satisfied with any decision he made. It was either too weak or too much.
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Lincoln's plan for reconstruction was to create an actual UNITED States. He wanted to bring the union back together and preserve it. He obviously needed to punish the rebels for what they did, and he did that by giving amnesty, a pardon, to all southerners who pledged their allegiance to the union, and didn't allow a state to create a new state government until 10% of that state took that oath, but certain people, like Confederate government officials, members of Confederate congress, and officers of the Confederate army, were not given this amnesty. Lincoln's plan, in my opinion, was pretty good towards the South, considering what it had put the North through, but Lincoln needed the American Government to resume ASAP, so it's understandable.
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I agree with Sophie and Rikki, in that saying that the problems of the Civil War were never really solved. Lincoln knew that no matter what he did, there would be people hating him, and his Amnesty Plan was what he though would appease the most amount of people.
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Caitlin Bechtold
1/5/2012 11:09:58 am
Lincoln's plan for reconstruction was established in order to abolish separitism between north and south and define America as one nation. Lincoln offered amnesty to all southerners who took an oath pledging alliegiance to the union while confederate government officials, members of confederate congres, and officers in the confederate army were excluded from amnesty. This arrangement was unfair because Lincoln was viewed as being lenient on the south so that American government could resume. Such people like Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania didn't want to reconsile with the south. Due to this frustration the Radical Republicans was formed. This group had three major goal for reconstruction: prevent confederate leaders from returning to power in congress, wanted republicans to be dominate, and to give freed slaves the right t vote. Thus, the birth of Wade-Davis Bill. This bill was created to suggest that Lincoln was too lenient on the south yet the Radicals were going too far as to grant slaves the right to vote. Both groups compromise due to this bill bonding the gap of unfairness between radicals and Lincoln. Although Lincoln's actions were out of good intentions his swift movements in unifying the nation became a struggle because he did not take the time to let people come together. He quickly forced his plan and it fell through because he did not please any one fully in his decsion. I agree with Rikki when I say this because she believes as well that Lincoln's actions should have been more time consuming and he should have eliminated his lenient views on the south.
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John Dashner
1/5/2012 11:33:55 am
The South was left in shambles following the Civil War. Something had to be done, so Lincoln came through with a plan for reconstruction. However, he failed to please either side of the debate. The North thought that he was too lenient with the South and should punish them more harshly to ensure that this does not happen again. The South was left to find all new government officials as Lincoln would not allow previous officials to retake office in their new government. They also had to rewrite their state constitutions, adding to the chaos. Along with these things, slavery was abolished leaving their economy wrecked. The Reconstruction ideologies of Lincoln were mediocre at best. What he did well was over shined by the things that he did wrong.
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Niko Carter
1/5/2012 11:37:39 am
I agree with John Morgan Dashner. Lincoln's plan was not the greatest. It seemed like he was giving the South a "slap on the hand" for committing murder. He was too eager to reunite the country and did not bring into the account of the degree of crimes the South had committed in "rebellion."
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Niko Carter
1/5/2012 11:34:29 am
Lincoln's plan for amnesty with the South resulted in opposition by his fellow Union members. Many Union members accused Lincoln of being too "soft" or lenient on the treasonous Confederacy. In addition to the forgiveness under oath, only officers, congress members, and other government officials of the Confederacy were punished and denied full civil rights. Lincoln obviously wanted to promote unity and forgiveness to develop a stronger country. The Union disagreed and saw the entire South as traitors to American ideals.Thaddeus Stevens from Pennsylvania strongly disagreed with Lincoln's actions. The Radical Republican group, who were established in opposition to the amnesty, believed that the southern supporters should be severely punished. On the other hand, the moderates were in between. They believed the Radicals went to far, while Lincoln allowed them to get off too easily. The Wade-Davis Bill was created as a seemingly fair compromise between the two extremities.The Bill fell through because ultimately no one was satisfied. Lincoln attempted to unify the country but not everyone agreed in the way he believed the destroyed South would seek redemption.
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John Dashner
1/5/2012 11:34:53 am
I agree with Joe. Lincoln was trying to minimize conflict while giving the South the ability to remake their governments and return to the union.
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Danielle Hyman
1/5/2012 11:37:03 am
Lincoln's plan for reconstruction first involved giving amnesty to southern citizens. At least 10 percent of citizens in the a southern state had to pledge their allegiance to the Union before that state could be readmitted. Some found this plan to be too lenient. Lincoln, however, purposely made the plan lenient so that the South would not have much animosity towards the North for losing the war. He didn't want to do nothing, but felt a simple plan such as this would unite the North and South so that they could work together as a strong, independent nation once again.
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1/5/2012 08:22:53 pm
I do think Lincoln was slighty lenient on the Confederate states. the Union had worked hard to win the war and shape the type of government that they wanted and the south was being easily let into the union. In a way it was like Lincoln could never win this war because he could not please either side. The Radicals wanted the South to be punished but Lincoln didn't do that. He let them come back to the Union if they state took the amnesty plegde. This did make the North very unhappy because they felt that what the South had done was against the Constitution and they wanted them to be severly punished for that. what did make the North happy was that Lincoln did not grant amnesty to any Confederate army officials. This made the North happy but they were never completely satisfied.
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Kayla C. Johnson
1/5/2012 08:32:57 pm
I disagree with Damesha. The average Confederate foot soldier that followed orders was not punished. Only Officials and high ranking Officers were punished since they were the ringleaders.
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Felicia Pelfrey
1/5/2012 08:45:56 pm
I think Lincoln was lenient for the sake of Unity. I feel that Lincoln was willing to allow the southerners to take an oath of allegience (at least 10% of votes), so that he could please them, while still making the Union happy. Clearly, Lincoln could not satisfy both the Confederates and the Union. I believe that his attempt should have counted for something, but the Radical Republicans were infuriated at this and made up their own goals for Reconstruction. Lincoln was trying to make everyone happy, when in reality, it ended up causing a lot more issues. If the North and South would have united, than the it would have a been a huge powerful nation. The Union was not willing to give in a little, although they would gain a whole lot more than they lost.
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Felicia Pelfrey
1/5/2012 08:47:39 pm
I agree with Danielle completely. The plan was really quite simple and the North and South would be United at last. But...it didn't work out that way.
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Felicia Pelfrey
1/5/2012 08:49:20 pm
I agree with Danielle completely. Lincoln's plan was quite simple and the North and South would have United at last. But...it didn't work out.
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Joy Kleisinger
1/6/2012 07:25:49 am
Lincoln's plan for reconstruction was an effort to bring the states back together after being estranged for years. Lincoln wanted to please both the north and the south, but that was impossible. Lincoln offered amnesty to former confederate citizens in an effort to reunite America, but those in the north felt that was too lenient. To the north, the south deserved some form of punishment for abandoning their own country and waging war against it. Lincoln did however keep confederate officials and officers from re-entering the union, which appeased some in the north. In contrast, the south was outraged. If no confederate officials were allowed into the union, then they would have no one for their state government. Who was supposed to be in charge? Lincoln made a good effort in an impossible situation, but there was no way to make two feuding sides agree on anything.
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1/6/2012 10:26:34 am
I agree with Rikki. Lincoln wanted to unite the states. Whether they were confederate or not. He wanted to pardon what the southern states had done and reuinte the states like the founding fathers worked so hard to build.
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Grace Thompson
1/6/2012 12:59:09 pm
Lincoln, in all reality, wanted to appease the North and the South. Because of this reason he mitigated his plan so that the South could rejoin the Union. Even though the radicals from the North wanted the South to be severely punished, Lincoln was lenient so we could be a whole country again.
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Grace Thompson
1/6/2012 01:00:52 pm
I agree with Damesha when she talks about the fairness Lincoln showed the average soldiers by not punishing them.
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