Reconstruction
For Reconstruction president, Abraham Lincon proposed a moderate and a more lenient approach of what came to be known as the 10 percent plan. This was a model of reinstating the Southern states where for a state to be reintegrated into the Union, 10 percent of the of its voters were required to swear an oath of allegiance to the United state and pledged to abide by emancipation. His aim was to end the war and bring the South back into the Union as quickly and easily as possible. The voters could then elect their delegates that were mandated to draft revised state constitutions as well as establish new state governments. With these few requirements, all the Southerners, except for the army officers and governments would be granted pardon(Ferrell, 2003). There was also a promise that their private property, though not the slaves, will be protected. This peace deal was meant to shorten the war while at the same time, it would further Lincon’s emancipation policy by pushing the new governments to abolish slavery.
The radical Republicans were, however, opposed to this model, and instead, the sought to impose harsh terms on the southerners by first introduced a 50 percent of the Southern voters to pledge their allegiance to the Union. They also hoped to control the Reconstruction process, transform the southern society, disband the planter aristocracy, redistribute land, develop industry, and guarantee civil liberties for former slaves (Capek, 2015).
Additionally, the congress established Freedmen’s Bureau, which provided food, shelter, education, medical, and employment aid to the freed slaves and poor whites. Through the bureau, the freed slaves began voting, forming political parties and form labor unions.
With all that said, I believe the radical Republicans had a better understanding of Reconstruction because besides ending the war, they brought freedom and empowerment to the former slaves. They also helped the poor white men through the bureau. This was not the case with Lincon Proclamation because his reconstructive policy was too lenient in the hope of popularizing his Emancipation Proclamation. He feared that compelling enforcement of the proclamation could lead to the defeat of the Republican Party in the 1864 election (Boyer et al.,2013). His model was, therefore, self-centered and was not concerned about the plight of the Southerners leave alone the slaves.
References
Boyer, P. S., Clark, C. E., Halttunen, K., Kett, J. F., & Salisbury, N. (2013). The enduring vision: A history of the American people. Cengage Learning.
Capek, M. (2015). The battle over slavery: Causes and effects of the U.S. Civil War. Capstone.
Ferrell, C. L. (2003). Reconstruction. Greenwood Publishing Group.