The End Of The Civil War - 1446 Words

The Civil War, fought from 1861 thru 1865, not only divided the nation into north and south but also became the bloodiest war in American history with over 600,000 casualties. Furthermore, ties between the already unpopular President Abraham Lincoln and congress, to include majority of his cabinet, broke making it ever more evident the discontent of the political body with the decisions the president would make in the months leading to the end of the war. As the war came to an end and the road towards reconstruction began, congress and President Lincoln, along with Vice President Andrew Johnson and William Seward, began to debate on the punishment the South would have to endure for their wretched rebellion. Soon congressmen, such as†¦show more content†¦Under the Davis-Wade Bill, as it became known, southerners of that generation would never be granted citizenship but rather be treated as conquered subjects of the United States. The Davis-Wade Bill was passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1864 and sent to President Abraham Lincoln for signature, although, it would never see the light of day. President Abraham Lincoln was incline to be more lenient with the south and opposed such radical measures. For that reason when the Wade-Davis bill reached him he opted to not signed it, knowing that if he veto the bill the senate would only override his veto, but rather decided to exercise a pocket veto, where he simply ignored the bill when it crossed his desk. By doing so he prevented congress from enacting the Wade-Davis bill further hindering his relationship with congress. President Lincoln was determined to enact his plan instead, which imposed less severe punishments to the south. Known as the Lenient Reconstruction Plan, Lincoln’s intent was to only require a 10 percent of the white, male, voting population to take an oath of allegiance to the U.S Constitution. Under the Lenient Reconstruction Plan citizenship would be restored if the states agreed to ratify state constitutions to outlaw slavery. Congress however felt Lincoln’s plan was too weak and after the