The Reconstruction Era followed the US Civil War from 1865 to 1877, attempting to reintegrate Confederate states into the Union. President Lincoln’s 10% plan was followed by Andrew Johnson, but Radical Republicans wanted stronger policies to ensure racial equality. They ratified three amendments to the constitution and implemented a plan involving military districts and new governments for each state. Opposition and financial crisis made it difficult to maintain policies, and by the mid-1870s, they were no longer strictly enforced. Freed ex-slaves had difficulty retaining their voting rights in the 1890s.
The Reconstruction Era was the period in the United States immediately following the Civil War, which lasted from 1865 to 1877. This period was characterized by attempts to reintegrate the Confederate states into the Union. These efforts were not always easy, as social, political and economic differences made compromise difficult.
There were a number of different theories about how Reconstruction might have happened. The first plan to be implemented was President Lincoln’s plan. Lincoln wished to make rejoining as easy as possible so that the Union could be re-established and normalcy created as soon as possible. Lincoln’s plan for readmitting Confederate states to the Union included a “10 percent plan,” which stated that for a state to be readmitted to the Union, 10 percent of white voters had to take an oath of allegiance to the Union.
After Lincoln was assassinated, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, tried to follow Lincoln’s same philosophy of Reconstruction. He supported the 10 percent Plan. The extent of these moderate policies made him disliked by many who wanted stronger or weaker policies.
Many in Lincoln and Johnson’s party, especially a group called Radical Republicans, thought the 10% Plan was too lenient. They wanted to ensure the loyalty of the former slave-holding classes, and they wanted to do more to ensure racial equality in the former Confederacy. For example, radical Republicans wanted former slaveholders’ lands taken from them and given to their former slaves, redistributing the wealth of the wealthy in these areas.
It was the work of Radical Republicans that allowed three amendments to the constitution to be ratified: the 13th, 14th and 15th. These amendments formally abolished slavery, gave citizen rights to former slaves, and gave citizens, regardless of race, the right to vote.
In 1866 the Radical Republicans won a strong majority in Congress. Their plan for Reconstruction was implemented shortly thereafter and involved separating the southern states into military districts. They were reignited after agreeing to ratify the 14th and 15th amendments. The hope was that equality for former slaves would be secured in these states after their ratification of the amendments. Entirely new governments were established for each state, which consisted largely of African Americans and Republicans, originally from the northern states.
Opposition from the southern land-owning classes and a national financial crisis made it difficult for the government to maintain these policies. In the mid-1870s, Reconstruction policies were no longer strictly enforced. In the 1890s freed ex-slaves were having difficulty retaining their voting rights.
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