When the American civil war culminated in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln embarked on the reconstruction mission that involved reviving the southern states’ social, political, and economic capacities. The president wanted to empower the southern states that had been adversely decimated following the civil war, which lasted for several years. The president’s proposed reconstruction requirements for the readmission of the southern states into the union states were lenient enough to facilitate a speedy reunion process. As such, the president’s plan faced a significant position from radical Republicans who felt the southern states should be given harsher requirements for joining the Union. Republicans set harsher requirements because the Confederate states had violated the Constitution for seceding from the Union. Hence, President Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction approach was better in facilitating a faster reunion due to limited restriction, targeted ending slavery, and promoted suffrage rights, while the Republican’s model to the southern states would have escalated conflict, promoted slavery, burdened reunion efforts, and violated the constitutional rights of southern states.
President Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction approach would have promoted a faster rebuilding of the southern states better than the radical Republican’s model. Abraham Lincoln’s model of the ten percent plan had limited restrictions compared to the one developed by radical Republicans. I support Lincoln’s approach to the southern Confederate states’ social, economic, and political emancipation because his ten percent plan would be easy to implement. Notably, the ten percent plan required ten individuals from the Confederate states to participate in a loyalty vote and be allowed to rejoin the Union (History.com Editors, 2023). Lincoln had proposed the ten percent plan for the Confederate southern states to join the Union because they had not fully seceded from the United States. As such, the southern states needed lenient requirements that would foster their readmission into the Union and pave the way for the social, economic, and political reconstruction after the civil war. However, the radical republican reconstruction plan was injurious to southern states’ economic, social, and political space because they targeted to burden the processes of reuniting seceded states (Zander, 2023). In my view, radical Republicans wanted to subject southern states to economic, social, and political sabotage, which would have further divided the country. As such, Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction plan was more effective than the radical Republican one because his reunion terms were lenient to the Confederate states.
Besides, unlike radical republican’s unbalanced reconstruction model of supporting slavery, Abraham Lincoln’s approach focused on eliminating the inequality gap by ending the bondage of African Americans. In my view, the best reconstruction model should provide equal opportunities to everyone regardless of color, social status, and economic capabilities. As such, a significant reunion should be founded on a win-win consensus for the parties involved. Based on the two reconstruction models, Abraham Lincoln’s plan seemed friendly to the Southern and Northern states because he lowered the terms of reunion to facilitate the Confederate state’s smooth integration into the Northern states (Byman, 2021). Notably, the president’s ten percent plan needed only ten loyal residents from the Confederate states to vote and prove their loyalty to the Union states. Lincoln wanted to revive the social, economic, and political life of African Americans by freeing them from slavery. Based on Lincoln, African Americans would only liberate their economic, social, and political conditions when provided with equal opportunities similar to the northern states (Borysovych et al., 2020). However, the radical Republicans’ reconstruction approach targeted the promotion of slavery of the African Americans residing in the Confederate states. Notably, radical Republicans never mentioned the termination of slavery as a requisite and benefit that southern states would receive upon proving their loyalty to the Union states.
Additionally, Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction model facilitated the continuation of African Americans’ social, political, and economic rights ,reinstating their suffrage rights, unlike the radical Republicans who denied southern state residents from voting. I find voting rights significant in promoting the individuals’ social, economic, and political statuses in democracies. The United States is one of the oldest countries that introduced democratic governments that are epitomized by allowing citizens to choose the political leaders of their choice (Ayers, 2021). Political participation has a significant effect on individuals’ social and economic empowerment. As such, President Lincoln’s model targeted to provide suffrage privileges to African Americans and enable them to elect representatives who would present their grievances and needs to Congress (History.com Editors, 2023). Such a move would elevate the African American’s social, political, and economic spaces because they would have chances to vie for political positions. Contrarily, radical Republicans’ terms of reunion lacked voting privileges for individuals from the Confederate states. As such, republicans wanted to limit African Americans’ political, social, and economic freedom by denying them voting privileges.
Conclusively, Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction approach would best revive the social, political, and economic statuses of African Americans than the plan projected by the radical Republicans. Abraham Lincoln’s model of the ten percent plan had limited restrictions compared to the one developed by radical Republicans. Besides, unlike radical Republicans’ divisive reconstruction model that supported slavery, Abraham Lincoln’s approach focused on eliminating the inequality gap by ending the bondage of African Americans. Additionally, Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction model facilitated the continuation of African Americans’ social, political, and economic rights ,reinstating their suffrage rights, unlike the radical Republicans who denied southern state residents from voting. Thus, Lincoln’s reconstruction plan aimed to improve African Americans’ social, political, and economic conditions compared to the radical Republican ones that were injurious and unjust.
References
Ayers, E. L. (2021). Lincoln’s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion, by Louis P. Masur. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, 41(2). https://www.jstor.org/stable/27092376
Borysovych, O. V., Chaiuk, T. A., & Karpova, K. S. (2020). Black lives matter Race Discourse and the Semiotics of historical reconstruction. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 9(3), 325–340. http://kutaksam.karabuk.edu.tr/index.php/ilk/article/view/2768
Byman, D. (2021). White supremacy, terrorism, and the failure of reconstruction in the United States. International Security, 46(1), 53–103. https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article-abstract/46/1/53/102853
History.com Editors. (2023, April 24). Reconstruction—Civil War End, Changes & Act of 1867. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction
Zander, C. N. (2023). Whether the Radicals? Reviews in American History, 51(1), 91–102. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/900725/summary
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