Johnson’s Reconstruction Failure Following Lincoln’s Assassination

As the end of the War Between the States drew near President Abraham Lincoln formed a plan to unite the United States which became to be known as Reconstruction. Lincoln’s plan was never fully implemented as he was assassinated in April 1865. His unfortunate death left Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s vice president, as the successor to the Presidency responsible for picking up the pieces and reassembling a country torn apart civil war. Johnson had none of the political pedigree as Lincoln developed and was not the strongest of presidents. Johnson was unsuccessful as his inadequate ideas, political views and negative character derailed his implementation of Reconstruction.

Lincoln’s plan of Reconstruction began with a loyalty vote of 10 percent of the state in order to rejoin the Union. In his eyes only the highest ranking Confederates remained in a negative light. The South did not agree with this therefore Congress wrote a bill requiring a majority vote. As Lincoln was set on bringing the Union back together vetoed the bill and negotiated with the leaders of the South. Unfortunately, Lincoln’s assassination and the untimeliness of the incident brought all the negotiations and progress to a complete halt as Andrew Johnson took over the Presidency.

“In May 1865, with Congress out of session for months to come, Johnson advanced his own version of Reconstruction. He offered amnesty to all southerners who swore allegiance to the United States, except for the highest-ranking Confederates.” (Henretta 2012) Johnson’s new policies, actions and lenience frustrated Congress and the Northerners who thought the penalty for the South should have been more severe. As Johnson was a Southerner himself, from Tennessee, he was sympatheti...

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...’s policies and personality. Over time they took over the immense burden of Reconstruction for the betterment of the country in order to mend the wounds left by the Civil War. Lincoln’s assassination was an extremely destructive incident which, in multiple aspects, still has an impact on the current American society. Historically, the United States never had the chance to reap the potential benefits had Lincoln been able to implement his form of Reconstruction. Instead the country had to suffer the pain of a battle between Andrew Johnson and Congress as the country healed after a bloody and costly war.

Works Cited

Henretta, James. 2012. America: A Concise History, Volume I: To 1877. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

History.com Staff. 2010. "The Black Codes." History.com. Accessed March 19, 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-codes.