A Essay On Reconstruction During The Civil War

The wealthy whites in the South made sure that black males could not vote.

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Though many Southerners at the time believed the Radical Republican dominated Congress was excessively harsh to former Confederate states, this was not the case; passing harsh laws and imposing military government was the only way to guarantee the Blacks their civil rights amidst the tireless discrimination of the South.Johnson was often criticized by the Radical Republicans in Congress for being too favorable to the Southern states, by giving amnesty to former Confederate officials and opposing legislation that protected former slaves.Though one might question Johnson’s motives for opposing Black civil rights laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1866, he did not do so out of malice for Blacks, but rather out of a desire to end the Reconstruction as promptly as possible.Andrew Johnson had policies similar to Lincoln’s when he first took power, but gradually became more conservative as his term continued.He favored a swift Reconstruction with as little conflict as possible.When Abraham Lincoln was in charge of the Reconstruction he worked to reunite the Union as quickly as possible.His lenient Ten-Percent Plan allowed easy re-entry into the Union for previous Confederate states; when ten percent of the voters who had voted in the Election of 1860 pledged loyalty to the Union, that state would be allowed re-entry.As Johnson said, “We want to get it done as quickly and inexpensively with as much creativity and flexibility as we can have.” To achieve this goal, Johnson often made considerable concessions to the South during his term as President.Like Lincoln, his primary concern was maintaining harmony in the nation and suppressing sectional discord.When the black slaves were freed, Congress passed three new amendments.First was the thirteenth amendment, the abolition of slavery, second was the fourteenth amendment was that it granted black males citizenship, and third was the fifteenth amendment that granted black males the right to vote.