Civil War and Reconstruction Period
The Civil War is recorded as the bitterest war in American history. Many historians have regarded this war as a “brothers’ war” since it involved two states. It has also been termed as “War of Northern Aggression”. Till today, strong feelings about the causes, background, and meaning of the Civil War continue. During the war, more than 600,000 Americans died while another 400,000 suffered serious wounds that have never healed in the minds of many people. By the time the Civil War was ending, the South was left in complete misery. Essentially, the region was in a state of political upheaval, social disorder, and economic instability (American Express, 2004). The strategy of the Union during the war destroyed the economic progress of the South, their plantation, crops, and entire cities. Consequently, the slaves run to the Union for refuge. The inflation becomes severe and many southerners starved to death due to the high cost of living. In the era reconstruction, radical republicans imposed harsher regulations on the southerners. However, President Lincoln made some plans to restore the condition in the South. The approach by Lincoln paved a way for the continuation of political, social, and economic gains that African Americans attained during the era of reconstruction.
To evaluate whether the radical republicans were correct, it is important to understand the assumptions first. Radical Republicans were a group of individuals who separated themselves from the Republican Party, who believed in full citizenship of the black people including the voting rights for them. Additionally, the group wanted the southern states to be punished for starting the Civil War. The radical republicans also wanted to reshape the South by forming unionist governments in the South (American Express, 2004). Specifically, the Radical Republicans wanted the southern planters to be punished since they believed they were responsible for the war.
President Lincoln was a Republican, but he disagreed with the assumptions of the Radical Republicans. Particularly, he did not agree that the southern states should be forced to accept the suffrage of black to be allowed to rejoin the United States government. Lincoln fought aggressively for the rights of the Southerners. During his reign, he planned for reconstruction whose intension was to reunify the North and South after the war. He issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863, which was meant to convince the Confederate soldiers to allow negotiation to take place between South and North (American Express, 2004). To help bring peace between the North and South, Lincoln pardoned the southerners who had vowed allegiance to the Union. Additionally, Lincoln promised to protect the private property that belonged to the southerners including land. Thus, the Reconstruction aimed to end the war fast.
The actions of Lincoln made the Radical Republicans feel that Abraham Lincoln was lenient to the Southerners. They believed that Lincoln did not want to punish the southerners for the misery they caused the American society. As a result, they launched a Wade-Davis Bill to counter the ten percent plan by Abraham Lincoln. The bill indicated that southerners could only be allowed to rejoin the Union only if 50 percent of the voters agreed for an ironclad vow of allegiance. Nevertheless, Lincoln believed that 50% of voters would ruin the loyalty of the people to the allegiance of the other, which could not end the war speedily (American Express, 2004). Lincoln refused to sign the bill before the Congress, which was the major cause of his assignation a year later. Lincoln was succeeded by Andrew Johnson who also did not agree in punishing the Southerners. Johnson introduced states right and Laissez-Faire which was the government’s philosophy not to interfere with the economic plans and social affairs of its people. Johnson highly opposed the attempts of the Radical Republicans to dissolve the plantation systems at the South and reestablish the southern economy (American Express, 2004). Johnson aimed to protect the civil rights of the blacks and the whites. President Johnson selected governors to oversee the process of drafting the new constitution and implementation of the 13th Amendment.
With the above evidence, I tend to believe that the Radical Republicans were not correct in their assumptions about the South. This was a hard time for all American with mostly African Americans suffering. The most suitable way to deal with the conflict was to find a better to end the Civil War and help Americans move forward. For many years, Abraham Lincoln had been considered as the greatest enemy of the South being termed as “bloodthirsty tyrant”. However, Lincoln was only determined to end slavery in the South, but not to cause harm to them. Conclusively, Lincoln paved the way for social, economic, and political gains for the African Americans that were attained during the reconstruction era. He battled against the Radical Republicans and opposed their Davis-Wade Bill. He developed a reconstruction plan which was executed by President Andrew Johnson after Lincoln’s assassination.
References
American Express. (2004, January 12). Reconstruction: The Second Civil War. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/reconstruction/