Once upon a time, there was big civil war in America between the North and the South.

The North had made the South angry, so the South decided to fight for their independence from the North.

The South ended up losing the war, and the North had three options on what to do with southern citizens.

Lincoln

Hang the confederate leaders, and take away confederate voting rights!

Congress

Let all Southerners back into the Union! They're Americans too.

Make the Southerners go through a long process to prove their loyalty before they can rejoin the Union!

No one really cares about option #3 yet

The details of Lincoln's plan:

• Full pardon & citizenship to anyone who swore allegiance to the Union
• States could form governments if 10% of their voters swore the oath
• All states would have to abolish slavery

Hey there's my picture :)

But Congress had other plans...

Their goals were to abolish slavery, extend rights to former slaves, and punish the South.

.

If WE controlled reconstruction, we'd want...

Let me explain who these gentlemen are.

'

Rights for ex-slaves and punishment for the South!

Wade

Davis

Benjamin Wade was the leader of the Radical Republicans, and Henry Winter Davis was the man who co-wrote the Wade-Davis bill with him.

Wade-Davis Bill

-Claimed congress should control reconstruction

-Said 50% of a states voters must swear loyalty before the state could rejoin the Union

-States had to abolish slavery and give full rights to former slaves

The main goal of the bill was to destroy the power of slaveholders.

This is where option #3 came into the picture

Lincoln didn't like the Wade-Davis Bill, so he decided to pocket veto it

(basically, he ignored the proposition until it went away).

But Congress decided to punch right back at Lincoln...

Congress shut the door on any delegates from states that were part of Lincoln's reconstruction plan.

One day, Licoln went to go watch a play. A mean man named John Wilkes Booth shot him at that play, and Lincoln died soon after.

This meant that Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's vice president, was the new President of the US.

Johnson

This guy was arguably the most racist and least qualified president EVER.

Andrew Johnson had WAY different plans than Lincoln did.

He wanted to let all the Confederate leaders off the hook, and hold conventions to repeal secession and to ratify the 13th Amendment.

Johnson's presidency also introduced black codes, which basically made slavery in America legal once again.

At this point, you can probably spot some of the differences between Johnson and Lincoln.

Things started changing in congress, and a lot of republicans became angry.

Many ex-Confederates were re-elected in Congress, and many of these Confederates were democrats.

The Northerners in Congress began to lose the advantage they had, since black people now counted as full people.

This was an issue because states with lots of black citizens got extra congress votes, but many white citizens threatened those blacks to make sure they didn't vote.

Congress fought back by making the Freedman's Bureau and passing the Civil Rights act of 1866.

The Freedmans Bureau was basically a Welfare Agency for blacks - it made sure black citizens were taken care of in their new, free lives.

The Civil Rights Act gave citizenship to all black people, and forbade states from passing anymore black codes.

President Johnson vetoed both of these because they were "unconstitutional".

Congress overturned the veto because the 14th amendment made the Civil Rights Act constitutional.

The 14th Amendment:

-Conferred civil rights on freedmen

-Reduced representation of states denying blacks voting rights

-Disqualified confederate leaders from office

In the 1866 congressional elections, the Republicans won big enough that they could overpower President Johnson.

Similar to how they locked people under Lincoln's plan out of meetings, congress refused to recognize state governments formed under Andrew Johnson.

Now we can override that mean old President Johnson!

Wow! There sure are a lot of republicans in congress now!

Reconstruction Act of 1867

This act divided the South into 5 military districts, and congress sent troops to these districts to keep the Southerners in line.

The act also took away voting from former Confederates, and states now had to agree to the 13th and 14th Amendments in order to rejoin the Union.

As you probably guessed, Andrew Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Act, and Congress again overturned the veto.

I'm getting real tired of these congressmen!