Lincoln's plan for reconstruction
lincoln's plan
- Amnesty & the Ten-Percent Plan - a Southern state could be readmitted to the Union once 10% of its voters (from the voter rolls for the election of 1860) swore an oath of allegiance to the Union.
- Southern voters could then elect representatives to establish new state governments.
- If the state’s constitution abolished slavery and provided education for African Americans, the state would regain representation in Congress.
- High-ranking Confederates could not vote.
- Surprisingly, Lincoln did not require political equality for African Americans
status of former slaves
- Working with the President, Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau, which:
- Provided relief supplies (food, clothing, shelter, and medical supplies) to both African Americans and white refugees
- Provided a local court system and established the precedent that black citizens had legal rights
- Negotiated contracts between freedmen and employers
- Established thousands of schools across the South
- Initially resettled freedmen on confiscated lands (most land later returned to former owners)
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