Compare and Contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction

Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction. Which one do you think was the more appropriate plan to reunite the US? Why?

Abraham Lincolns plan was known as the 10% plan. It was simple. There were only a few exceptions, Lincoln offered pardons to any Confederate who swore allegiance to the Union and the Constitution. When the number of people who took the oath of allegiance equaled 10% of the number of voters who participated in the election of 1860, the state would be readmitted to the Union after a new state government which abolished slavery. However, Lincoln was assassinated before this plan could be implemented.

President Andrew Johnson’s plan was also lenient towards the southern states. He would grant pardons to anyone taking a loyalty oath to the U.S. except for the high ranking Confederate political and military leaders, and people owning property worth more than $20,000. States would be readmitted to the Union once they created a new state government that abolished slavery, repealed the state’s ordinance of secession, and repudiated Confederate debts. This was put into effect when Congress was in recess. Johnson’s plan did not really address the fortunes of newly freed slaves and southern states began to pass “black codes” or laws which severely limited the civil rights of freedom. When Congress reconvened, it refused to recognize Johnson’s plan by refusing to seat any person elected from any former Confederate state. It then began to pass its own laws concerning the southern states.

The Congressional Plan, also known as Radical Republican Plan, was meant to aid newly freed slaves and to punish the South. It first passed several laws helping newly freed slaves, such as The Civil Rights Act (whose provisions would later be found in the 14th Amendment). It also extended the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau. It then passed a series of laws known as The Reconstruction Acts. These laws were vetoed by Johnson, but the vetoes were easily overridden and these laws were put into effect. The Reconstruction Acts basically divided the South into five military districts with the military commander of the district given complete authority. No state would be allowed back into the Union until it ratified the 14th Amendment and guaranteed the tight to vote for African American men. And later, for some states, the 15th Amendment had to be ratified as well. The 14th Amendment punished Confederate supporters and gave citizenship to former slaves. It also said that no state could deny to anyone, including African Americans, the equal protection of the law and due process of law. The 15th Amendment stated that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of race. Eventually all states were readmitted under this plan.

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