Term Paper on "Reconstruction Slavery Cast a Shadow on American"

>Although slavery was officially abolished via the Thirteenth Amendment, the former Confederacy pressed Washington for both leniency and political power. For the most part, the South succeeded in its vocal cries. During the war, Abraham Lincoln assumed a moderate stance toward the Southern states, eager to end the bloody fight. The President neglected to actively recruit African-Americans into the Union Army and opposed the liberation of slaves in the new territories, fearful of further antagonizing the vehement Confederacy.

Lincoln's veto of the Wade-Davis bill further split Washington along political lines. Radical Republicans like Benjamin Wade and Henry Davis had hoped to install temporary governors throughout the South to ensure obedience with federal law and also proposed that a majority of voters swear an oath to the Union. The Wade-Davis Bill, supported by Radical Republicans, was nevertheless struck down by Lincoln. Before his assassination, Lincoln had failed to offer the nation a realistic Reconstruction Plan that took into account the rights of former slaves. Lincoln instead skirted the issue of civil rights in the hopes of gaining support from more moderate Confederates. The President's successes during the war and his integral role in the abolition of slavery were therefore partially overshadowed during the Reconstruction era.

Lincoln's assassination allowed Johnson to assert his political views more effectively than he did as Vice President. As President, Johnson not only continued Lincoln's leniency toward the South, he built on it by expressing open sympathy for former Confederate leaders and slaveholders. Rather than punish the Southerners for secession, Johnson and his political supporters sided with them, and opposed human rights-oriented legislation including the Civil Rights Bill, the 14th Amendment, and the Reconstruction Acts. Johnson, a Democrat who hailed from Southern stock, stood in stark contrast to the Radical Republicans in Congress. Infighting in Washington grew particularly vehement during the early years… READ MORE