Name: ______________________________
Date: _____________________
Period: ____________
RECONSTRUCTION: Presidential vs. Congressional Plans
Essential Question: How did the Reconstruction plans of the President and Congress differ?
In the spring of 1865, the Civil War came to an end, leaving over 620,000 dead and a devastating path of
destruction throughout the South. The North now faced the task of rebuilding the war-torn Confederate states. The
process of fixing the South was made even more difficult because Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Congress
had differing ideas on how Reconstruction should be handled.
Directions: Read the following articles on Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction. As you read, underline the
major beliefs that each group’s vision for Reconstruction are based upon and answer the questions in the margins.
Presidential Reconstruction
On April 11, 1865, two days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s
surrender, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his last public address, during
which he described a generous Reconstruction policy and urged compassion and
open-mindedness throughout the process. He declared that secession was
constitutionally impossible and therefore the Confederate states had never left
the Union. Individuals, not states, Lincoln argued, had rebelled, and the
Constitution gave the president the power to pardon individuals. In short, Lincoln
wanted to make the South’s readmission into the United States as quick and
easy as possible.
Even before the war had ended, Lincoln issued the Proclamation of
Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863, his compassionate policy for dealing with
the South. The Proclamation stated that all Southerners could be forgiven and
reinstated as U.S. citizens if they took an oath of allegiance (loyalty) to the
Constitution and the Union and pledged to free their slaves. High-ranking
officials who participated in the southern rebellion were excluded from this
pardon. Lincoln’s Proclamation was called the “10 percent plan” because once 10
percent of the voting population in any state had taken the oath, a state
government could be put in place and the state could be reintegrated into the
Union.
Though many Congressmen disliked Lincoln’s Ten-Percent Plan, Vice
President Andrew Johnson agreed with many aspects of Lincoln’s Reconstruction
proposal. When Lincoln was assassinated, Andrew Johnson took over the
presidency and introduced a plan that shared many of the same traits as
Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan.” Like Lincoln, Johnson believed that the Southern
states had never really left the Union. He declared that each remaining
Confederate state could be readmitted to the Union if it would meet several
conditions. Each state would have to withdraw its secession, swear allegiance to
the Union, and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery.
The one major difference between Lincoln and Johnson’s plans was that
Johnson wished to prevent most high-ranking Confederates and wealthy
Southern landowners from taking the oath needed for voting privileges.
However, Johnson was not particularly eager to allow former slaves to vote
either. He pardoned more than 13,000 former Confederates because he believed
that “white men alone must manage the South.” Neither his plan nor Lincoln’s
addressed the needs of former slaves in three main areas: land, voting rights, and
protection under law.
The Confederate states quickly agreed to Johnson’s terms. Within a few
months, all of the Southern states except Texas held conventions to draw up new
state constitutions, to set up new state governments, and to elect representatives
to Congress. On December 6, 1865 Johnson announced that the southern states
had met his conditions for Reconstruction and that the Union was now restored.
However, when Congress met that same month, the Northern Republicans were
enraged to discover that some of the newly elected representatives to Congress
from the South were former Confederate leaders, including the former vicepresident of the Confederacy. It was clear to these Northerners that a better
Reconstruction plan was needed.
Main Idea: What was Lincoln’s
primary goal when rebuilding
the South?
Main Idea: In your own words,
what was Lincoln’s “Ten-Percent
Plan”?
Supporting Detail: Who was
excluded from Lincoln’s plan
(who wouldn’t be “off the
hook”?)?
Supporting Detail: How did
Johnson & Lincoln’s plans address
the needs of former slaves?
Summary: In 3 words, describe
Lincoln and Johnson’s
Reconstruction plans (known as
Presidential Reconstruction):
Congressional Reconstruction
Congressmen generally rejected both Lincoln and Johnson’s plans for
Reconstruction. They believed that by seceding, the southern states had given
up “all civil and political rights under the Constitution.” Moreover, they
believed that it was the responsibility of Congress and not the president to
plan and oversee Reconstruction. In June of 1866, Congress, led by the Radical
Republicans, rejected Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan and began implementing
their own.
The Republicans in Congress had two main goals that anchored their
Reconstruction plan. The first goal was to integrate African Americans into
society by granting them full citizenship and the right to vote. The second
goal, necessary to ensure the success of the first, was to destroy the political
power of former slaveholders. To achieve these goals, Congress began their
Reconstruction plan by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This law gave
African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory
laws, known as black codes. Though President Johnson vetoed this bill,
Congress overrode his veto.
Shortly after, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, which
provided the constitutional basis for the Civil Rights Act. This amendment
made “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” citizens of the
country. All were entitled to equal protection of the law, and no state could
deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. All
Republicans agreed that when the former Confederate states ratified the
Fourteenth Amendment, they would be welcomed back into the Union.
When none of the former Confederate states ratified the Fourteenth
Amendment, Congress recognized that more drastic measures would be
needed to achieve their goals
The next year, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867.
According to this law, none of the state governments formed under Lincoln
and Johnson’s plans were legal (except Tennessee, which had ratified the
Fourteenth Amendment). The act divided the ten former Confederate states
into five military districts, each headed by a Union general. The voters in the
districts, including African American men, would elect delegates to
conventions in which new state constitutions would be drafted. In order for a
state to reenter the Union, its constitution had to ensure African American
men the vote, and the state had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
Moreover, to ensure that Southerners could not change their state
constitutions in the future to repeal the gains made through Reconstruction,
Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment. According to this amendment, no
state could keep someone from voting on the basis of their “race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.” Finally, the last congressional Reconstruction
law came in 1875 with the passage of another Civil Rights Act. This law forbid
racial discrimination in jury selection, transportation, restaurants, and many
other public places. It did not guarantee equality in schools, churches, and
cemeteries. Unfortunately, the Act lacked a strong enforcement mechanism.
Reflection: Which plan would you prefer…
a. …if you were former slave living in the South? Why?
b. …if you were a Radical Republican? Why?
c.
…if you were a former Confederate soldier? Why?
Supporting Detail: What
were Congress’s 2 main goals
when rebuilding the South?
Supporting Detail: In your
own words, what did the 14th
amendment do?
Main Idea: Describe Congress’s
Reconstruction plan (the
Reconstruction Act of 1867).
Supporting Detail: In your
own words, what did the 15th
amendment do?
Summary: In 3 words, describe
Congressional Reconstruction:
Reconstruction Historical Heads
Directions: Based on the information in the articles complete an historical head for the Presidential Plan. You
can draw images, use symbols or look for images online. Number each item. On the bottom of the page, write
a corresponding explanation of each item, why you chose it and how it reflects the views of the Presidential
Plan, Make your head colorful and eye-catching and your explanation accurate and convincing.
Explanation:
1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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2. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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3. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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4. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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5. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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Reconstruction Historical Heads
Directions: Based on the information in the articles complete an historical head for the Presidential Plan You
can draw images, use symbols or look for images online. Number each item. On the bottom of the page, write
a corresponding explanation of each item, why you chose it and how it reflects the views of the Congressional
Plan, Make your head colorful and eye-catching and your explanation accurate and convincing.
Explanation:
1. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
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