Reconstruction Dbq

Mr. Higginson,

Since our time serving together, the state of the Union has changed immensely with the “reconstruction” period starting in the U.S. As an esteemed member of the House of Representatives, you most certainly know about the vetoing of the Wade-Davis Bill. I am not sure which way you were swayed to vote, but I’m torn on the issue. As you know, Mr. Lincoln’s promise in his “Emancipation Proclamation” was my main inspiration to join the war effort. Although I agreed with most of his decisions during the war, his lenient terms of surrender for the Confederate army slightly altered my point of view of the president. Lincoln’s desire to quickly and smoothly reconstruct the Union was understandable, but Lincoln’s ten percent plan for

the Confederate states to rejoin the Union seems a little lenient on the South.

Hearing of the passing of the Wade-Davis bill through Congress, I was almost happy that Lincoln’s ideas were modified by Congress to be less forgiving to the Confederate states. The South is obviously at fault for instigating this war, so shouldn’t they be punished for the hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers that were killed in the fighting? The Wade-Davis Bill didn’t seem too strict to me, from what I heard during the war. After the end of our serving in February of 1864, I decided the remain in the South where I was highly conflicted on my preference of ideas for reconstruction. I’m not sure if you have taken a trip South yet, but upon my return, I was greeted was massive destruction of thousands of houses. As a member of the Congress, I figured you were more knowledgeable than me on the different plans for reconstruction and I was wondering your preference towards the plans. I have first-hand seen the minimal effects of Lincoln’s slap on the South’s wrists and would’ve preferred Wade-Davis’s abolition of slavery and the plan’s eventual establishment of methods to protect the rights of my fellow free blacks. The South was doing whatever was necessary to continue the supposedly dead practice of slavery through

their Black Codes. The Southern people weren’t ready to change which would have been more apparent is the 50% approval rating was approved for them to rejoin the Union. Walking down the street, I saw a black man being arrested for merely being unemployed. I thought it was a rather peculiar thing to be arrested for, but I figured there was proper reasoning behind his arrest.

A couple months later, I once again saw this man, but this time, he was working in the fields. I recalled the earlier incident and asked him what was the outcome of his arrest. He told me the whole story with it ultimately ending with him being “hired” to work in the field to pay off his astronomical debts. I am still uncertain if the South will ever accept emancipation without being coerced to do so. I may be conflicted on the stringency of Lincoln’s final plans, but it is undeniable that his presidency was an enormous stride towards the end of the slavery. I was overcome with bewilderment and sorrow upon hearing the news of his assassination. I honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about Andrew Johnson’s ascent to the presidency. During the war, he remained in the Union while his state of Tennessee had seceded, but his feelings towards slavery were very much unknown and I was concerned of the way that he would proceed with the reconstruction. Upon saying that, he basically ran his “restoration” the same as Lincoln’s with the main difference being the denial of pardons to the plantation aristocracy. To be honest, I find that he correctly placed his blame on the upper class who used the lower class to

fight their war. As you are most certainly aware, the Radical Republicans have been making his job harder than most presidents. Looking in the newspaper, I saw the headline “Johnson Almost Thrown From Office” on March 16 of 1868 and upon further investigation, he had used the power to veto on multiple bills that had passed through both houses. Numerous bills that would have helped African Americans gain equal right as citizens were swiftly declined by Johnson. Most controversially, he denied the continuation of The Freedmen's Bureau which protected the newly-freed slaves living in the former Confederate states The final straw was reached when Johnson used his ability to veto the Tenure of Office Act which required that the Senate approves of both Cabinet appointments and dismissals. Congress responded with an impeachment trial, which failed on behalf of the preservation of checks and balances, and the passing of the 14th Amendment making all blacks citizens of the United States. Living in the South, I have seen the failure of this amendment to change the social system. Although it is the “supreme law of the land”, the Southern states have no incentive or reason to enforce it. Our country has come a long way since the end of the war with a Northern majority now supporting black citizenship and hopefully the government and your Congress will continue to try and protect the rights of the former slaves. I have told you my opinion of the successes and failure of this period and hope that you will respond with your point of view on the current period of reconstruction.