Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876

by John William Burgess

CHAPTER II

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S VIEWS AND ACTS IN REGARD TO RECONSTRUCTION

[Did Mr. Lincoln Have any Theory of Reconstruction?]—[Mr. Lincoln's Plan]—[Mr. Lincoln's Oath of Allegiance, and the Loyal Class to be Created by the Taking of this Oath]—[The Proviso in this Plan]—[Seward's Idea of Reconstruction and the Views of Congress and the Judiciary]—[Ten Per Centum "State" Governments]—[Reconstruction in Louisiana under Mr. Lincoln's Plan]—[The New Orleans Convention—The Election of a Governor—The Constitutional Convention of April, 1864, and the Constitution Framed by it and Adopted by the Voters—Reconstruction in Arkansas]—[The Beginning of Resistance in Congress to the President's Plans—The Wade-Davis Bill]—[Analysis of this Measure]—[The President's Attitude toward the Bill—The President's Proclamation of July 8th, 1864]—[The Wade-Davis Protest against the President's Proclamation]—[The President's Message of December 6th, 1864]—[The Threatened Schism in the Republican Party and the Presidential Election of 1864]—[The Refusal of Congress to Count the Electoral Vote from any "State" which had Passed the Secession Ordinance]—[Reconstruction in Tennessee]—[The Twenty-second Joint Rule]—[Reconstruction in Tennessee Continued]—[Civil Government Re-established in Tennessee]—[The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States]—[The Proposition of Amendment as it Came from the Judiciary Committee of the Senate—The Passage of the Proposition by the Senate]—[The House Draft]—[Rejection of the Senate's Draft in the House]—[Reconsideration of the Senate's Measure in the House, and its Final Passage].

Some of the ardent admirers of Mr. Lincoln are disposed to dispute the proposition that he had any theory of Reconstruction. It seems,

Did Mr. Lincoln
have any theory
of Reconstruction?

This plan recognized, in the first place, the continued existence of the "States" in rebellion as "States" of, and in, the Union. More

Mr. Lincoln's plan.

In the second place, therefore, Mr. Lincoln's plan contained the principle that the work of Reconstruction was an executive problem. It was the work of the Executive, through the power of pardon, to create a loyal class in a "State" which had been the scene of rebellion, and it was the work of the Executive to support that class by the military power in taking possession of, organizing, and operating, the "State" government.