What was president lincolns hopes for reconstruction?
Firstly let me state, I am not American, just an admirer of probably the greatest man ever to walk the american continent in modern time. His aim I feel, was to allow the south to ease back into the Union, his greatest legacy I feel is his devoted aim of defending the union , and his unswerving goal of preserving that union. Under Lincoln the South would have been embraced, his aim was not to punish the south. his aim , totally, was that preservation of the union. America can be so very proud that when it needed such a man at such a critical time in its history Lincoln was there Lincoln the myth, the man, and the legend, are all one. and the world is a better place because of it.
How did lincoln's assassination affect the reconstruction period and the civil war?
It had no effect on the war-it was over after Sherman's march and Grant's successes in Virginia. To make it simple, Lincoln wanted to bring the southern states, particularly the border states, in with little recrimination-as the guy above said, he was much more interested in reconciliation than punishment. When he died, Presidential Reconstruction died with him. Johnson had no power, so the Radical Republicans in Congress took over Reconstruction and ground the South into submission.
What was Lincoln's point when he says both sides "read the same Bible"?
What was Lincoln's point when he says both sides "read the same Bible"?If you read the full text from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address from which that quote has been picked, the meaning becomes clearer:One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.The main point of this speech — delivered after four years of bloody civil war, and with just few weeks before the Civil War would end — was reconciliation. He pleads for an end to recrimination and hatred, and for he nation to come together and heal. He ends the speech with these ringing words:With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
How did Lincoln assassination impact the reconstruction of the nation after the Civil War?
The traditional interpretation has been that when Lincoln died the hardliners in Congress moved in to punish the South. Andrew Johnston, the one Senator from the South, who stayed in the Senate, was trying to follow Lincolns lead by emphasizing reconciliation. For his efforts an angry Congress impeached and tried him. He was acquitted by 1 vote.That has been the accepted narrative until more recently. Another examination leads many to conclude Johnson had his own semi independent ideas of how to reintegrate the South back into the Union. Simply take a loyalty oath and get your property back (Minus former slaves.) He opposed the 14th Amendment and was just fine with letting the Southern Governments enact “Jim Crow” type laws to prevent Blacks from voting.It all fell apart when New Orleans rioted in 1866 and a number of freedmen were summarily killed in the streets. Congress intervened and refused to seat elected representatives from states that restrict black voting. When they passed a law to this effect Johnson vetoed it. Soon, after Sec. Of War Stanton was fired Congress passed another veto override and enacted a bill which prohibited Johnson from firing any cabinet member.Had Lincoln survived I suspect that the Congress would have less openly resisted him. On the other hand I also suspect Lincoln would have supported the 14th Amendment. Yes, by todays standards one could accuse Lincoln of being a racist early in the war. By 1864, I believe he would have supported Blacks being guaranteed the right to vote.Another factor in the discussion was Lincolns health. Would he have survived to finish his second term? His changing appearance between 1861 and 1865 invites a lot of speculation. Did he have Marfans? But that is anyone’s guess.
What went wrong with Reconstruction and how did it let to the Jim Crow Laws?
Reconstruction, the way Lincoln wanted it, would have been more reconciliation and less punishment. After his death, the radical republicans took over the reconstruction and made it punitive. Free blacks in the south before reconstruction were treated quite well, in fact better than they were up north. During reconstruction, the freed mans bureau confiscated land from former confederates and gave it to the recently freed slaves. This caused major resentment amongst the southerner. Also northerners who came to the south to take advantage of it, carpet baggers, we're also another major source of resentment. As for Jim crow laws, think of it like this, you have a group of people who are used to being essentially left alone by the government being forced to change their way of life drastically; wouldn't this breed so animosity especially against the group elevated and the group doing the elevation? Jim Crow was an attempt to greatly restrict blacks, more so that they were in antebellum times, as a punishment for the way the federal government had promoted them at the expense of the white southern population.
Did Booth & his co-conspirators act alone in the Lincoln assassination, or were they hired assassins by a larger group (Confederate government, radical Republicans, etc.) to kill the president?
I once read a description of John Wilkes Booth as “a half insane drunkard.” In most Lincoln scholars’ opinions, the “half” is too generous.His original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and trade him for captured Confederates held in Union prisons. When Lee’s surrender to Grant made that plan moot, he decided to effectively decapitate the federal government by assassinating Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward on the same night. His motive was simply revenge.Only Lincoln was killed, of course. George Atzerodt, the conspirator who was supposed to kill Johnson lost his nerve and spent the night getting drunk. Seward was attacked by Lewis Paine, who gained entrance to the house by posing as a deliveryman from a nearby pharmacy. Seward’s son and a male nurse tackled Paine and he fled the house. He might have succeeded had Seward not been heavily bandaged from a recent carriage accident; the bandages made it difficult for Paine to stab him.Booth’s plan was his own idea. Robert E. Lee spent the rest of his life urging embittered Confederates to let bygones be bygones and reconcile themselves to being citizens of the United States. Jefferson Davis was fleeing farther south at the time of Lincoln’s assassination, and his Vice President, Alexander Stephens, was either heading for his hometown of Crawfordville, Georgia, or was already there. Already under threat of being arrested and charged with treason, none of them would have compounded their legal difficulties by authorizing Booth to carry out his plot.