Was Abraham Lincoln Able To Abolish Reconstruction?

After winning the presidential elections in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was determined to abolish slavery in all of America. Little did he know that the Southern States were about to secede instead of fighting him in Congress. In fact the slaves were the engine of the Southerners’ economy, and because their economy were mostly based on agriculture mainly cotton, slaves constituted free labor for the south. Abolishing slavery would constitute a blow to the Southern economy and damage their earning margin as the black population would have rights and cannot be exploited freely anymore. So, by seceding and creating their own nation, they would create their own laws that allow slavery. Lincoln saw the secession as unconstitutional and on the 12th of

Even though Abraham Lincoln ensured the freedom of African Americans by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation during the war in the rebel states and ensured its generalization on all states through the thirteenth amendment in 1865, the Blacks’ fate was uncertain after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. His predecessor Andrew Johnson for example thought Lincoln gave them enough rights and vetoed two bills that provided them federal civil rights. But with the republican victory in the following elections, Parliament was able to ensure the Freedman an equal role to that of the white population. The Reconstruction established by Congress, provided many measures for admitting the ex-slaves into the community especially those of the South, and passed laws by which whites and blacks could live together in a non-slave society. This can be seen through the sending of black and white school teachers, missionaries, organizations, and churchmen to all parts of the US. This aimed to give the freedman the opportunity to learn. The African Americans took advantage of the opportunity to become literate. The emancipation proclamation freed their bodies, knowledge and education freed their minds. Moreover, the black population enjoyed the right to vote, the participation in the political process as many got administrative positions, the buying and selling of land, the seeking of their own employment, and the use of public accommodations. For a moment African Americans enjoyed equal footings with the European Americans. However the white South, saw Reconstruction as humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it. The south mentality could not accept this new found peace with the freedman and started looking for an opportunity to change the situation. The opportunity manifested itself in the 1877 Compromise where