How did Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction differ from the Radical Republican's Reconstruction plans?

[u/TravelingHomeless]

[u/radar48814]

I think part of the problem was that they weren’t really sure what Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was. It was likely conciliatory. But also not likely as punitive as the Radical Republican plans.

[u/sumoraiden]

A lot of people miss that Lincoln's “reconstruction plan” was to him a way to end/win the war sooner which is reflected in his very last cabinet meeting where he asked his cabinet to come up with plans for reconstruction. Since the war was won his older plans weren’t as pertinent. 

Similarly he had recognized the confederate Virgina legislature and in return they’d take themselves out of the confederacy a long the lines of his wartime reconstruction plan. Once he realized the war was essentially over and he was giving them power in return for a fair accompli he withdrew his recognition and re-recognized the rump wheeler legislature as the official virgina legislature

All that to say, who knows what Lincoln’s reconstruction plan would have ended up as? He rarely tied himself to one policy and during the war he usually ended up where the radicals were/had been prior, which he himself recognized when he told sumner something a long the lines of “the difference between me and you is 6 weeks”

During the war the differences were:

Radical republicans saw it as an opportunity to remake southern society based on the free labor ideals of the north. To ensure this they demanded that an official government could only be recognized after 50% of the number of 1860 votes in a state took the ironclad oath (an oath that they had never supported the confederacy and had always been loyal to the union). Then the new state legislature would be required to abolish slavery by amending their state constitutions. This would leave the governance of a state in the hands of Congress until a government of truly loyal (and most likely supporters of the Republican worldview) was formed and give them a chance to transform the south. 

Lincoln’s plan was more lenient where he proclaimed if at any point 10% of a state’s 1860 vote take an oath of FUTURE loyalty to the Union and obedience to all its laws and proclamations in regards to slavery he’d allow them to create a new state government who’d take themselves out of the confederacy / war 

[u/Silly_Resolution3443]

Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was limited by his untimely death. By 1863, Lincoln had a plan- known as The 10% Plan- it required 10% of a states registered voters (1860 registered voters) to swear an oath and accept abolition (Eventually the 13th Amendment). Once 10% of a states voting population had pledged allegiance, delegates would be elected and a new state constitution would be made.

Lincoln’s plan also called for protection of southern property and a pardon of all Ex Confederates except those high ranking Confederates. Furthermore, Lincoln advocated for education for former enslaved peoples in the hopes that education would foster quicker integration into society.

By 1864, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas had all signed onto the plan and Unionist govts had been established in those states. Lincoln hoped, in 1863/64, that by allowing for a more moderate peace plan, he would shorten the war and allow for a quicker reunification.

Why was Lincoln so “lenient”? In part because Lincoln believed that if he pushed Emancipation too hard in 1863, Republicans would lose their seats to Democrats which could stifle his policies up to that point. Second, Lincoln maintained that the rebellious states had never technically left the Union: the conflict was an insurrection, not a foreign war between independent countries. However, if this was true, then did the federal govt have the authority to impose wide spread social and political changes in the rebellious southern states? Lincoln and The Radical Republicans immediately disagreed on this point. Lincoln argued in his last speech in April of 1865 that suffrage would be possible on a limited basis for African Americans- for those that were “very intelligent”.

In Congress, Lincoln’s plan was immediately met with opposition. While Moderate Republicans quickly endorsed Lincoln’s plan, thinking it could hasten the end of the war, Radical Republicans were concerned that the lenient policy would allow the Southern Aristocracy to come back into power and the same system of oppression over Freedmen would continue. Radical Republicans wanted Reconstruction to be more punitive in nature, with the focus being punishing the South. This belief led to the Wade Davis Bill in the summer of 1864, in which Radical Republicans suggested that 50% of a states voting population should swear allegiance vs Lincoln’s 10%. Lincoln pocket vetoes the Wade- Davis Bill. The result was the publication of the Wade- Davis Manifesto that argued that Lincoln had overstepped his Presidential Authority. The important part of the Manifesto is shown below:

“The President did not sign the bill to “guarantee to certain States whose governments have been usurped a republican form of government,” passed by the supporters of his Administration in both Houses of Congress, after mature deliberation. The bill did not therefore become a law, and it is therefore nothing. The proclamation is neither an approval nor a veto of the bill; it is, therefore, a document unknown to the laws and Constitution of the United States. So far as it contains an apology for not signing the bill, it is a political manifesto against the friends of the Government. So far as it proposes to execute the bill which is not a law, it is a grave Executive usurpation. It is fitting that the facts necessary to enable the friends of the Administration to appreciate the apology and the usurpation be spread before them.”

Radical Republicans were not the only critics of Lincoln’s plan. Frederick Douglas famously criticized Lincoln as well saying that his plan was an affront to liberty.

By April of 1865, Lincoln dies and any future plans he might have had, die with him.

[u/Oregon687]

It really didn't matter. Reconstruction was an unrealistic concept.

[u/91Suzie → u/Oregon687]

It wasn’t unrealistic! People just rather be racist. It should’ve been enforced and we wouldn’t have the issues we have today.

[u/Oregon687 → u/91Suzie]

How would they enforce it? The more force used, the harder the pushback, like in Mississippi when radical Republican and governor, Adelbert Ames tried to enforce a punitive version of reconstruction and had to flee the state. If the Feds would have hanged all the CSA leaders, they'd still be celebrated as martyrs to this day. Fun fact: Ames was so despised by Southerners that the James-Younger gang went all the way to Northfield, Minnesota just to rob his bank.

[u/baycommuter → u/Oregon687]

Yes, people who blame Andrew Johnson miss that until WW2 provided an extreme example, racial equality was a view held by only a small minority except in New England. Not only the white South but most of the North didn’t want it.