President Abraham Lincoln began the task of rebuilding the Confederate States in order to reunify the North and South well before the end of the Civil War. As Union forces took control of the Mississippi River by capturing the Confederate towns of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and the Confederates were driven out after the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln proposed his conciliatory plan for reunification with his proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863. Building a strong Republican Party in the South and ending acrimonious relations between the two regions, Lincoln issued the proclamation to fully pardon and restore the property of nearly all Southerners engaged in the rebellion. This plan further provided a method of reintegrating the Southern states, provided that at least ten percent of voters took the oath of allegiance to the union and upheld the previously issued Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery in rebel states. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayLincoln's policy, based on forgiveness, was primarily aimed at unifying the nation as quickly as possible without excessively punishing the South . The president feared that a prolonged war would not only lose public support, but also make it increasingly difficult to reunify the North and South. By granting amnesty to the Southern states, Lincoln's lenient Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction proved effective because it strengthened the Emancipation Proclamation and encouraged an increasingly weary Confederate Army to surrender, leading ultimately to the preservation of the union, Lincoln's primary goal. Despite these accomplishments, Lincoln's Reconstruction plan failed to address how freedmen could integrate into a racially divided society and secure any real measure of racial equality. It also created divisions within the Republican Party and further widened the already existing divide between the Northern and Southern states. The decision to rebuild the nation was made almost immediately after the start of the Civil War, as Abraham Lincoln and the majority of Congress saw the inevitability of a Southern War. defeat. Lincoln further maintained his Unionist position in his first inaugural address, asserting that the Constitution implied that no state could legally secede from the federal union. In fact, four months into his first term, on July 4, 1861, Lincoln addressed Congress and alluded to the South's possible defeat, stating: "Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of honest men as to what course to follow. of the Government towards the Southern States after the suppression of the Rebellion, the Executive deems it proper to say that its object will then, as always, be to be guided by the Constitution and the laws..." In implying that the defeat of the South was a contingency and believing that the South had never actually legally seceded from the union, Lincoln viewed Southerners as domestic insurrectionists who could legally be suppressed by militia. Furthermore, the president, accustomed to expanding his presidential powers since the beginning of the Civil War, believed and declared in 1862 that he had "...the right to take any action likely to better subdue the enemy." Believing that it was the president's responsibility as commander in chief to call out the militia and grant a general amnesty, Lincoln moved forward and initiated a plan of reconstruction based on the principles of forgiveness, ease and justice. Lincoln issued the Amnesty Proclamation andreconstruction. in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, as a means to quickly end the war, thereby preserving the union. He announced his proclamation as Union armies captured large parts of the South and some states like Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee were ready to rebuild their governments. The President, addressing those who participated in the rebellion in the south declared that "full forgiveness is extended to them and each of them, with the restoration of all property rights..." The President said further required an oath of allegiance from the southern states requiring that "a number of persons, not less than one-tenth of the number of votes cast in this State in the presidential election...each having taken the oath aforesaid...shall restore a Government of State which shall be republican…and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that the United States will guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government and will protect each of them against the invasion. With ten percent of eligible voters pledging allegiance to the United States in order to be readmitted to the union and form their own government, Lincoln proposed a lenient plan for southerners. He hoped this would hasten their surrender. The Confederate States were also willing to accept the president's proposal, because the Civil War had left the Confederacy in ruins, destroying its infrastructure and devastating its economy. Lincoln's offer to protect southern properties and rebuild the South detached southerners from their allegiance to the Confederacy, encouraging surrender. In fact, by 1864, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee were all rebuilt under Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan and had developed a fully functioning Union government. Although presented to the public as a Reconstruction plan, Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction was actually a political maneuver that encouraged Southern states to surrender and thus preserved the union. Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction also reinforced his previous emancipation policy by insisting that governments of newly formed states entering the union must abolish slavery. In his executive order, Lincoln declared: "...that any provision which may be made by the government of such State with respect to the freed persons of this State, which shall recognize and declare their permanent liberty, shall provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present state...." By proposing a lenient Reconstruction plan, guaranteeing property rights and the creation of their own government, Lincoln hoped that Southern voters would accept the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln feared that forced enforcement of the proclamation alone could lead to the defeat of the Republican Party in the 1864 election, and thus lead to the overturning of his proclamation by the new Democrats. policies that were beneficial to them and gently persuaded them to accept the terms of emancipation Louisiana, the first state to respond to Abraham Lincoln's plan to readmit the Southern states to the Union, selected delegates. to draft a new constitution. Their new Constitution abolished slavery and abandoned the old order of domination of Louisiana by planters and aristocrats. Arkansas also gave in to Lincoln's Reconstruction plan in 1864. The new state constitution stated that "that all men, when in social compact, are equal and have certain inherent and unassailable rights, among which those of enjoyingand to defend life and liberty; to acquire, possess and protect property and reputation; and pursue their own happiness. By proposing a lenient policy that favored southerners in the first two parts of the Amnesty Proclamation and the Reconstruction Plan, Lincoln was able to convince the rebel states to accept the entire proposal. This helped Lincoln implement his Reconstruction goals of emancipating slaves and preserving the union. Despite its successes, Lincoln's proclamation had several drawbacks. This not only created divisions within the Republican Party, but also widened the already existing divide between the Northern and Southern states. While moderate Republicans supported Lincoln's position that the southern states should be reinstated as quickly as possible and given clemency, radical congressional Republicans strongly opposed it, saying it would lead to the re-enslavement of blacks and the restoration of southern aristocracy. Radicals thought Lincoln's plan was far too lenient and were furious that Lincoln would not leave Reconstruction to lawmakers. So on July 2, 1864, Congress attempted to pass the Wade-Davis bill, a stricter version of Lincoln's ten percent plan. This bill stated that "if the persons taking this oath represent a majority of the registered persons in the State," the former Confederate States could reenter the Union and establish a new government. Furthermore, the bill only guaranteed enfranchisement for Southern voters if at least fifty percent of the citizens took the oath of allegiance, promising that they had never voluntarily taken up arms against the Union or supported the Union. Confederation. The Wade-Davis proposal also required the abolition of slavery in newly formed states and vehemently opposed Lincoln's attempt to pursue a policy of compensated emancipation in which the government would compensate slave owners in the states who had not joined the confederacy. Lincoln, fearing that the bill would "sabotage his own Reconstruction activities in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee and jeopardize state-level emancipation movements in loyal border states like Missouri and, in particular, Maryland,” vetoed it. His decision to ignore the bill caused great political dissension and discord within the Republican Party. Angry Radical Republicans in Congress quickly responded by issuing the Wade-Davis Manifesto, accusing the president of trying to gain political muscle by usurping Congress's power and securing voters. the south. The Manifesto asserted that Lincoln "allowed himself to be dictated by his personal ambition" and ordered the president "to confine himself to his executive functions - to obey and execute, not to make laws - to suppress armed rebellion by force of arms and to leave the country." political reorganization in Congress. The different political philosophy promoted by the two reconstruction plans not only divided the party, but also helped widen the already existing divide between the north and the south. Radical Republicans attempted to reshape the South in order to punish them for their attempted secession. They accomplished this by establishing a pro-Republican government in the Southern legislature and attempting to grant voting rights to blacks. Angry southerners denounced such measures and sought to further widen the divide between North and South. Although Lincoln's Reconstruction plan succeeded in preserving the union, it failed to protect the..