The Differences and Similarities involving the Three Major Reconstruction Plans: Lincoln’s, Johnson's and the Radical Republicans

Reconstruction was the attempt from 1863 to 1877 to resolve the issues of the American Civil War, after the Confederacy was defeated and slavery ended. Reconstruction also attempted to address how “succeeded” states would return to the Union, the status of leaders of the Confederacy, and the Constitutional and legal status of African-Americans all across the United States of America. The Era of Reconstruction came in three phases. Presidential Reconstruction which was controlled by Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, Congressional Reconstruction, and the Redemption Era. Presidential Reconstruction paved the way for how the executive branch would function for years to come. One group of people, the Radical Republicans, did not always agree with the ideals and thoughts of the executive branch. Reconstruction shortly after the Civil War was a battle of ethics and polotics between the executive and legislative branches. The differences and similarities of the three major Reconstruction plans: Lincoln’s, Johnson’s, and the radical Republicans were immense, but the greatest plan was that of Abraham Lincoln, who believed in preserving the Union, gradually making blacks a part of society, and the rapid improvement of infrastructure.


Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction was never really a fixed arrangement. Generally because Lincoln was murdered shortly after the Civil War. Lincoln’s plan therefore had to be, what was quickest to end the War. Both Lincoln’s and Johnson’s plans sought a quick readmission process for states that had “succeeded” from the Union. The Radical Republicans, on the other hand, sought a quick and immediate fix to the problem. Lincoln’s 10% percent Reconstruction plan stated that a state could only be reintegrated into the Union, when 10 percent of its voters took an oath of alliance to the Union. The Radical Republicans alternatively believed in the Wade-Davis Bill, which required 50 percent of a states’ voters to take an oath of alliance to the Union. Lincoln’s plan was unconditionally better, by the fact that the Radical Republicans were so afraid of the planter class regaining power, they would do anything to try to limit that southern aristocracy’s power, which is not a model ideal for a citizen of the Republic. During the Civil War, Lincoln believed that the South had never succeeded from the Union, but many such as the Radical Republicans sought to punish the South for disturbing the peace seen during the antebellum period.


Lincoln’s overall policy for what to do with African-Americans after the Civil war was unsurpassed in comparison to Johnson’s and the Radical Republican’s plan. The Radical Republican’s and Johnson’s plan for the slave variable was very similar to that of Lincoln’s. Both Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln believed in fundamental rights for the slaves. Although both Johnson and Lincoln believed in the policy of sending African-Americans back to Africa, they never followed through. The Radical Republicans in contrast believed in giving slaves rights to the extreme. Eliminating a problem with a quick solution will never work. The Radical Republicans did achieve a lot when it came to African-American rights, for example a plea to disenfranchise the KKK, helping to pass the 14th amendment, and many others. Lincoln believed in the emancipation of slaves in states in open rebellion during the Civil War. Lincoln only did this because he thought that with no slaves there would be no economy in the South and in turn equal a quick solution to the war. In no sense of the word was Lincoln an abolitionist, he just did whatever he had to, to secure the welfare of his country and preserve the Union.


The Civil War had completely devastated the South and North alike. In the South, thousands of building and structures had been reduced to rubble and in the North; citizens were still paying for the cost of a war that lasted about five years. The economic livelihood of the South was in addition desperately crippled. During Lincoln’s era, the South was split into five military districts to help rebuild the South socially, politically, and economically. Lincoln’s postwar means for rebuilding the South was in these military sections. Johnson’s plans were the exact same as Lincoln’s, gradually rebuilding the South, which would never be fully, met until decades later. The Radical Republicans’ plan was to; of course put all of the governments’ funds into rebuilding the South. Lincoln’s plan was obviously the best because it was the original doctrine for which all other plans would be based on.


The postwar affects of the Civil War, were drastic. A major group in congress was formed, known as the Radical Republicans. Radical Republicans, believed in a quick and direct end to the nations’ problems no matter the cost, to get on with the dominance of the United States of American over the Western Hemisphere. Abraham Lincoln, although assassinated prior to the Era of Reconstruction, laid out a through plan for postwar efforts. Lincoln even appointed the next president of the United States as a military governor of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson lived by many of the morals purposed by Abraham Lincoln. Johnson only added to his policy, the fact that the government had the power to disenfranchise ex-Confederate leaders, but also had the power to pardon ones as well. Although Abraham Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan faced drastic opposition during the age of Reconstruction, he we was the king of postwar principles.


The differences and similarities of the major three Reconstruction plans: Lincoln’s, Johnson’s, and the Radical Republicans were immense. Abraham Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction drastically surpassed the efforts put in place by Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans. Lincoln’s plan consisted of an immediate preservation of the Union, gradually introducing African-Americans into everyday society, and slowly but surely rebuilding the South. The Reconstruction period produced more black politicians during that time than any in the history of America. But shortly after America was rebuilt they were forced out of Congress and their respective political offices, which showed the unsteadiness of the nation during that time period. Although Abraham Lincoln believed that whites were superior to blacks, he was able to put his own ideals aside, for that of his country’s. Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was superior to that of Johnson’s and the Radical Republican’s and has changed the face of history forever.