Reconstruction was the process by which the United States addressed the problems created by secession and four years of bloody, destructive war. Not everyone agreed, however, about who should control that process of Reconstruction, what issues should be addressed, and how much change it should demand. One major split occurred between President Andrew Johnson — who took office upon the death of Abraham Lincoln — and the US Congress. Johnson, the author of the first excerpt, not only claimed control of Reconstruction, he held a very conservative view that required only limited change for the South. Many members of Congress, by contrast, thought that they should define and oversee Reconstruction, not Johnson. Moreover, the radical wing of the Republican Party — which wrestled control of Reconstruction away from the President — called for far-reaching changes to the rebellious states, as indicated in the excerpt by Thaddeus Stevens. As a result, the states being reconstructed found themselves caught in a political tug-of-war between competing groups with contrasting demands. Most southern whites supported the President’s limited demands upon them and opposed those of Congress. The last excerpt is by Frederick Douglass, who presents a critical assessment of Reconstruction.

Document One: Andrew Johnson's Plan of Reconstruction (1865)

In the first document below, one of two key proclamations on Reconstruction, President Andrew Johnson gives an indication of what Reconstruction should achieve and how. It differs from what Congress had proposed by the Wade Davis Bill, which stipulated that more than fifty percent of the voters who were qualified in 1860 in each southern state had to be able to prove their past loyalty as well as swear future loyalty to the Union before being readmitted to the Union. Johnson and Congress also differed over whether to allow former Confederate leaders to participate in Reconstruction and in government. Presidents Lincoln and Johnson envisioned temporary disqualification; Congress favored permanent disqualification.

As you read Johnson’s document, consider the following questions.
• What did he demand of the rebellious states to gain readmission into the Union?
• Who would participate (and who would not participate!) in reconstructing the state governments?
• Did the plan demand significant or limited change in the South?

(Source: James D. Richardson, ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents [Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office], vol. 6, pp. 312 313.)

. . . Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn duties imposed upon me by the Constitution of the United States and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people of said State to organize a State government whereby justice may be established, domestic tranquillity insured, and loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, liberty, and property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do hereby appoint William W. Holden provisional governor of the State of North Carolina, whose duty it shall be, at the earliest practicable period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper for convening a convention composed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the people of said State who are loyal to the United States, and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending the constitution thereof, and with authority to exercise within the limits of said State all the powers necessary and proper to enable such loyal people of the State of North Carolina to restore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federal Government and to present such a republican form of State government as will entitle the State to the guaranty of the United States therefor and its people to protection by the United States against invasion, insurrection, and domestic violence: Provided, That in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing delegates to any State convention as aforesaid no person shall be qualified as an elector or shall be eligible as a member of such convention unless he shall have previously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty as set forth in the President's proclamation of May 29, A. D. 1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the constitution and laws of the State of North Carolina in force immediately before the 20th day of May, A. D. 1861, the date of the so called ordinance of secession; and the said convention, when convened, or the legislature that may be thereafter assembled, will prescribe the qualification of electors and the eligibility of persons to hold office under the constitution and laws of the State — a power the people of the several States composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Government to the present time.

And I do hereby direct

. . . That the military commander of the department and all officers and persons in the military and naval service aid and assist the said provisional governor in carrying into effect this proclamation; and they are enjoined to abstain from in any way hindering, impeding, or discouraging the loyal people from the organization of a State government as herein authorized. . . .

Document Two: Thaddeus Stevens on Black Suffrage and Land Redistribution (1867)

Below is a document written by one of the more influential members of Congress and leading radicals within the Republican Party, Thaddeus Stevens. He reveals a different set of goals and expectations for Reconstruction.

As you read the document, consider the following questions.
• Did Stevens support giving the freedmen the vote? Why?
• What else did he advocate giving them? Why did he think that was important?

(Source: Congressional Globe, January 3, 1867, p. 252; Congressional Globe, March 19, 1867, p. 203.)

On Black Suffrage

Unless the rebel States, before admission, should be made republican in spirit, and placed under the guardianship of loyal men, all our blood and treasure will have been spent in vain. I waive now the question of punishment which, if we are wise, will still be inflicted by moderate confiscations. . . . Impartial suffrage, both in electing the delegates and ratifying their proceedings, is now the fixed rule. There is more reason why colored voters should be admitted in the rebel States than in the Territories. In the States they form the great mass of the loyal men. Possibly with their aid loyal governments may be established in most of those States. Without it all are sure to be ruled by traitors; and loyal men, black and white, will be oppressed, exiled, or murdered. There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In the first place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to negro suffrage in the rebel States. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? In the second place, it is a necessity in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. The white Union men are in a great minority in each of those States. With them the blacks would act in a body; and it is believed that in each of said States, except one, the two united would form a majority, control the States, and protect themselves. Now they are the victims of daily murder. . . .

Another good reason is, it would insure the ascendency of the Union party. . . I believe . . . that on the continued ascendency of that party depends the safety of this great nation. If impartial suffrage is excluded in the rebel States, then every one of them is sure to send a solid rebel representative delegation to Congress, and cast a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their kindred Copperheads of the North, would always elect the President and control Congress. . . . I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. If it be just, it should not be denied; if it be necessary, it should be adopted; if it be a punishment to traitors, they deserve it.

Bill on Land Distribution

Whereas it is due to justice, as an example to future times, that some proper punishment should be inflicted on the people who constituted the "confederate States of America," both because they, declaring an unjust war against the United States for the purpose of destroying republican liberty and permanently establishing slavery, as well as for the cruel and barbarous manner in which they conducted said war, in violation of all the laws of civilized warfare, and also to compel them to make some compensation for the damages and expenditures caused by said war: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the public lands belonging to the ten States that formed the government of the so called "confederate States of America" shall be forfeited by said States and become forthwith vested in the United States. . . .

That out of the lands thus seized and confiscated the slaves who have been liberated by the operations of the war and the amendment to the Constitution or otherwise, who resided in said "confederate States" on the 4th day of March, A.D. 1861, or since, shall have distributed to them as follows, namely: to each male person who is the head of a family, forty acres; to each adult male, whether the head of a family or not, forty acres; to each widow who is the head of a family, forty acres — to be held by them in fee simple, but to be inalienable for the next ten years after they become seized thereof. . . .

 
Document Three: Frederick Douglass on Reconstruction (1880)

As you read the document, consider the following questions.
• Is his assessment of Reconstruction a positive or negative one?
• Upon what basis does he make this assessment?

Our Reconstruction measures were radically defective. . . . To the freedmen was given the machinery of liberty, but there was denied to them the steam to put it in motion. They were given the uniform of soldiers, but no arms; they were called citizens, but were left subjects; they were called free, but left almost slaves. The old master class . . . retained the power to starve them to death, and wherever this power is held there is the power of slavery.