Reconstruction

This essay will describe the events that occurred following the Civil War in a period known as Reconstruction. In the South, during this period of time many people suffered from the great amount of property damage done to such things as farms, factories, railroads and several other things that citizens depended on to keep their economy strong. Some of these economic hardships included destruction of the credit system and worthless Confederate money. Though statistics in the South were vague the historian E.B. Long, a careful student of war strengths suggests "perhaps 750,000 individuals would be reasonably a close" as an estimate of Southern enrollments in the armies and navy.

In the South Reconstruction meant rebuilding the economy, establishing new state and local governments and establishing a new social structure between whites and blacks. During the war Lincoln had expanded his presidency. With his power he hoped to set up loyal governments in the Southern states that were under Union control. Lincoln appointed new temporary governors and instructed each to call a convention to create a new state government as soon as a group of the state's citizen totaling 10 percent of the voters in the 1860 presidential election had signed oaths of loyalty to the Union.

After the Civil War, America entered an era of complete pandemonium. After the long civil war, United States was lead into a more grueling reconstruction. Different beliefs and backgrounds became an obstacle along with opposing ideas upon what to do with this "new" country. New amendments to the Constitution were necessary to ensure equality among all men. With all of these predicaments in the way, one could only wish for a success.

Different opinions on what to do with the south made it difficult to agree on one single decision. Abraham Lincoln, whose main goal since the start of the War was to preserve the Union, had this idea of offering and amnesty to all southerners who pledged an oath to the nation, excluding a few high ranking Confederate officers. He determined that when ten percent of a state's voters had taken the oath, Congress should readmit that state. When Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson succeeded him, he had his own thoughts. He felt that each southern state should abolish slavery, repeal its ordinance of secession, and pay all of its war debts. Only then should the state be readmitted. Every state except for Texas complied. The Radical Republicans on the other hand, felt that Congress should be the one taking over the Reconstruction policies, since it was made mostly of Radical Republicans. Thinking that Johnson's ideas were far too lenient, this party had the sternest plan. They tried to pass the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864, which would put the south under military rule and once the majority of a states electorate swore the loyalty oath, then readmission would be granted. However, Lincoln destroyed this bill with a pocket veto (Encyclopedia Americana). While opinions on how to readmit states to the Union varied, that was not the only ...