{"id":484,"date":"2015-08-21T17:59:29","date_gmt":"2015-08-21T17:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/ushistory1os2xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=484"},"modified":"2022-07-25T19:17:01","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T19:17:01","slug":"lincolns-plan","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory1\/chapter\/lincolns-plan\/","title":{"raw":"Lincoln's Plan","rendered":"Lincoln&#8217;s Plan"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul class=\"im_orderedlist\">\r\n \t<li>Describe Lincoln\u2019s plan to restore the Union at the end of the Civil War<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the circumstances and purpose of the Thirteenth Amendment<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figure class=\"timeline\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"780\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/883\/2015\/08\/23202706\/CNX_History_16_01_Timeline1.jpg\" alt=\"A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln unveils the \u201cten percent plan\u201d; a portrait of Lincoln is shown. In 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinates Lincoln, Congress establishes the Freedmen\u2019s Bureau, and the Thirteenth Amendment is ratified; an illustration of Booth shooting Lincoln in his theater box, as his wife and two guests look on, is shown. In 1867, Radical Republicans pass the Military Reconstruction Act. In 1868, Congress moves to impeach Andrew Johnson, and the Fourteenth Amendment is ratified; a portrait of Johnson and an image of the impeachment resolution signed by the House of Representatives are shown. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment is ratified. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes defeats Samuel Tilden in a contested presidential election; a photograph of Hayes\u2019s inauguration is shown. In 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ends Reconstruction.\" width=\"780\" height=\"405\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. Major events of the Reconstruction era.[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\n<h2><strong>Restoring the Union<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe end of the Civil War saw the beginning of the Reconstruction era, when former rebel Southern states were integrated back into the Union.\u00a0Reconstruction became a tumultuous journey as formerly enslaved freedmen and White southern males hoped to obtain the kind of freedom they wanted. These two groups believed in two different realities, which made freedom hard to define, and led to a tug of war between both groups.\u00a0President Lincoln moved quickly to achieve the war\u2019s ultimate goal: reunification of the country. He proposed a generous and non-punitive plan to return the former Confederate states speedily to the United States, but some Republicans in Congress protested, considering the president\u2019s plan too lenient to the rebel states that had torn the country apart. The greatest flaw of Lincoln\u2019s plan, according to this view, was that it appeared to forgive traitors instead of guaranteeing civil rights to former slaves. President Lincoln oversaw the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, but he did not live to see its ratification.\r\n\r\n<section data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">The President's Plan: The Ten Percent Plan<\/h2>\r\nFrom the outset of the rebellion in 1861, Lincoln\u2019s overriding goal had been to bring the Southern states quickly back into the fold in order to restore the Union. In early December 1863, the president began the process of reunification by unveiling a three-part proposal known as the <span data-type=\"term\">ten percent plan<\/span> that outlined how the states would return. The ten percent plan gave a general pardon to all Southerners except high-ranking Confederate government and military leaders, required 10 percent of the 1860 voting population in the former rebel states to take a binding oath of future allegiance to the United States and the emancipation of enslaved people, and declared that once those voters took those oaths, the restored Confederate states would draft new state constitutions.\r\n<figure>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"585\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/883\/2015\/08\/23202707\/CNX_History_16_01_Lincoln1.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph (a) shows a standing portrait of Lincoln. Cartoon (b), titled \u201cThe \u2018Rail Splitter\u2019 at Work Repairing the Union,\u201d shows Andrew Johnson sitting atop a globe, mending a map of the United States with a needle and thread. Beside him, Lincoln holds the globe in place using a large split rail. Johnson says \u201cTake it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever!!!\u201d Lincoln replies, \u201cA few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended!\u201d\" width=\"585\" height=\"405\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. Thomas Le Mere took this albumen silver print (a) of Abraham Lincoln in April 1863. Le Mere thought a standing pose of Lincoln would be popular. In this political cartoon from 1865 (b), Lincoln and his vice president, Andrew Johnson, endeavor to sew together the torn pieces of the Union.[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\nLincoln hoped that the leniency of the plan\u201490% of the 1860 voters did not have to swear allegiance to the Union or to emancipation\u2014would bring about a quick and long-anticipated resolution and make emancipation more acceptable everywhere. It should be noted that in this plan, voters would be White males age 21 years old and older. During the Civil War, the South lost 268,000 of these men, which of course could have a significant impact on the voting for this plan.\u00a0This approach appealed to some in the Republican Party, which wanted to put the nation on a speedy course toward reconciliation.\u00a0However, the proposal instantly drew fire from a larger faction of Republicans in Congress who did not want to deal moderately with the South.\r\n\r\nThere were three factions of the Republican Party at this time:\u00a0the Radical Republicans, the Moderate Republicans, and the Conservative Republicans.\u00a0The\u00a0members of Congress known as Radical Republicans\u00a0wanted to remake the South and punish the rebels. Radical Republicans insisted on harsh terms for the defeated Confederacy and protection for former slaves, going far beyond what the president proposed. They also believed that the slaves' legal rights should be protected, the Southern leaders should be punished and disenfranchised, the land of the wealthy should be distributed to the Blacks, and that Blacks should obtain suffrage. Conservative Republicans believed in the abolition of slavery but did not believe in imposing punishment on rebellious Southerners and were not as concerned with equality. Moderate Republicans fell between these two groups.\r\n<h3>Ironclad Oath<\/h3>\r\nIn February 1864, two of the Radical Republicans, Ohio senator Benjamin Wade and Maryland representative Henry Winter Davis, countered Lincoln's proposal with one of their own.\u00a0Among other stipulations, the Wade-Davis Bill called for a majority of voters and government officials in Confederate states to take an oath, called the <strong>Ironclad Oath,<\/strong>\u00a0swearing that they had never supported the Confederacy or made war against the United States. Those who could not or would not take the oath would be unable to take part in the future political life of the South. The Wade-Davis Bill required that 50 percent of a state\u2019s White males take a loyalty oath to be readmitted to the Union, instead of Lincoln's proposed 10%. For this reason, the Wade-Davis bill is also known as the \"50 Percent Plan.\"\r\n\r\nCongress assented to the Wade-Davis Bill, and it went to Lincoln for his signature. The president refused to sign, using the pocket veto (that is, taking no action after Congress adjourns) to kill the bill. Lincoln understood that no Southern state would have met the criteria of the Wade-Davis Bill, and its passage would simply have delayed the reconstruction of the South.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/d610d290-a7a9-47e5-a2f3-ccedf04e7724<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n<h2>The Thirteenth Amendment<\/h2>\r\nInitially proposed as a war aim, Lincoln\u2019s Emancipation Proclamation committed the United States to the abolition of slavery. However, the proclamation freed only enslaved people in areas of rebellion and left more than seven hundred thousand in bondage in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri as well as in Union-occupied areas of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia.\r\n<h3>The Confiscation Acts and the Emancipation Proclamation<\/h3>\r\nCongress passed several laws between 1861 and 1863 that aided the growing movement toward emancipation. Despite his concerns that premature attempts at emancipation would weaken his support and entail the loss of crucial border states, Lincoln signed these acts into law. The first of these laws to be implemented was the First Confiscation Act of August 1861, which authorized the confiscation of any Confederate property, including slaves, by Union forces. In March 1862, Congress approved a law enacting an additional article of war, which forbade Union Army officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners. The following month, Congress declared that the federal government would compensate slave owners who freed their slaves. Moderate Republicans accepted Lincoln\u2019s plan for gradual, compensated emancipation, which was put into effect in the District of Columbia.\r\n\r\nIn June 1862, Congress passed a law enacting emancipation in the federal territories, and in July, passed the Second Confiscation Act, which contained provisions intended to liberate slaves held by rebels. The latter act also declared that any Confederate official, military or civilian, who did not surrender within 60 days of the act\u2019s passage would have his enslaved laborers freed.\r\n\r\nIn order to increase public support for emancipation, Lincoln strategically chose to associate the Emancipation Proclamation with the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. On September 22 of that year, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation that he would order the emancipation of all slaves within all Confederate states that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. When none of the states returned to the Union by that date, Lincoln honored his proclamation, and the order immediately took effect.\r\n<div class=\"boundless-concept\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignright\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/7330\">\r\n<div class=\"figure-cont\"><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nDespite the Confiscation Acts and the\u00a01863\u00a0Emancipation Proclamation, the legal status of enslaved people and the institution of slavery remained unresolved.\u00a0Since these were wartime acts, once the war was over, these people could be put back into bondage.\u00a0To deal with the remaining uncertainties, the Republican Party made the abolition of slavery a top priority by including the issue in its 1864 party platform. The platform read: \u201cThat as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican Government, justice and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic; and that, while we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed a deathblow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of Slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States.\u201d The platform left no doubt about the intention to abolish slavery.\r\n\r\nThe president, along with the Radical Republicans, made good on this campaign promise in 1864 and 1865. A proposed constitutional amendment passed the Senate in April 1864, and the House of Representatives concurred in January 1865. The first amendment added to the Constitution since 1804, it overturned a centuries-old practice by permanently abolishing slavery. The <strong>Thirteenth Amendment<\/strong> legally abolished slavery \u201cexcept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.\u201d Section Two of the amendment granted Congress the \u201cpower to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.\u201d State ratification followed, and by the end of the year (December 1865) the requisite three-fourths of the states had approved the amendment, and four million people were forever free from the slavery that had existed in North America for 250 years.\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Dig Deeper: the 13th Amendment<\/h3>\r\n<h4>The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution<\/h4>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">AMENDMENT XIII<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Section 1.\r\nNeither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Section 2.\r\nCongress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"smalltext\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><i>Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.<\/i><\/p>\r\nMany people today believe that the 13th amendment's sole focus was freeing the slaves after the Civil War. However, its importance has long-reaching ramifications even today dealing with current issues, including penal labor and hate crimes. The clause in the amendment that says \"except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted\" has been used as justification for penal labor, or requiring prisoners to work. This \"loophole\" in the 13th Amendment is still used today to permit labor from prisoners, but it was especially problematic during Reconstruction because Black Codes designed to target and criminalize Blacks led to larger percentages of imprisoned Blacks who were forced back into slave labor. For example, the inability to pay fees for vagrancy crimes resulted in imprisonment, during which prisoners labored in the very same wage-free positions held by slaves less than two years prior.\r\n\r\nBetween 1866 and 1869, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida became the first states in the U.S. to lease out convicts. Previously responsible for the housing and feeding of the new prison labor force, the states developed a convict leasing system as a means to rid penitentiaries of the responsibility to care for the incarcerated population. State governments maximized profits by putting the responsibility on the lessee to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care for the prisoners. Convict labor strayed from small-scale plantation and sharecrop harvesting and moved toward work in the private sector. States leased out convicts to private businesses that utilized the low-cost labor to run enterprises such as coal mines, railroads, and logging companies. Private lessees were permitted to use prisoner labor with very little oversight. This resulted in extremely poor conditions and inadequacy of necessities like food, water, and shelter, often exacerbated by unsafe labor practices and inhuman discipline. This cheap labor supply from convicts aided the southern economy's return from wartime devastation.\r\n\r\nThis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/12\/03\/942413221\/democrats-push-abolition-amendment-to-fully-erase-slavery-from-u-s-constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 NPR Article<\/a> offers more insight on the interpretation of the 13th amendment regarding penal labor, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HBEvEr_UtYA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this BigThink video<\/a> discusses this issue in a modern light.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"463\"]<img class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/883\/2015\/08\/23202708\/CNX_History_16_01_Assassinat1.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration shows John Wilkes Booth shooting Lincoln in the back of the head as he sits in the theater box with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests, Major Henry R. Rathbone and Clara Harris. Rathbone stands and points at Booth as the women look on in horror.\" width=\"463\" height=\"350\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/> <strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. In The Assassination of President Lincoln (1865), by Currier and Ives, John Wilkes Booth shoots Lincoln in the back of the head as he sits in the theater box with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests, Major Henry R. Rathbone and Clara Harris.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPresident Lincoln never saw the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. On April 14, 1865, the Confederate supporter and well-known actor John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln while he was attending a play, <em data-effect=\"italics\">Our American Cousin<\/em>, at Ford\u2019s Theater in Washington. The president died the next day. Booth had steadfastly defended the Confederacy and White supremacy, and his act was part of a larger conspiracy to eliminate the heads of the Union government and keep the Confederate fight going. One of Booth\u2019s associates stabbed and wounded Secretary of State William Seward the night of the assassination. Another associate abandoned the planned assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson at the last moment. Although Booth initially escaped capture, Union troops shot and killed him on April 26, 1865, in a Maryland barn. Eight other conspirators were convicted by a military tribunal for participating in the conspiracy, and four were hanged. Lincoln\u2019s death earned him immediate martyrdom, and hysteria spread throughout the North. To many Northerners, the assassination suggested an even greater conspiracy than what was revealed, masterminded by the unrepentant leaders of the defeated Confederacy. Militant Republicans would use and exploit this fear relentlessly in the ensuing months.\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\nLearn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/millercenter.org\/president\/lincoln\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lincoln's Presidency on the Miller Center website<\/a> or explore a comprehensive collection of documents, images, and ephemera related to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/program\/bib\/presidents\/lincoln\/related.html?loclr=blogpoe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Abraham Lincoln on the Library of Congress website<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\r\n<h3>Review Question<\/h3>\r\nWhat was the purpose of the Thirteenth Amendment? How was it different from the Emancipation Proclamation?\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"250350\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"250350\"]The Thirteenth Amendment officially and permanently banned the institution of slavery in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation had freed only those slaves in rebellious states, leaving many slaves\u2014most notably, those in the border states\u2014in bondage; furthermore, it did not alter or prohibit the institution of slavery in general.[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<section>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/d0aaf6f2-0e28-469a-bcf3-dcd99ac5b635\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>Ironclad Oath:\u00a0<\/strong>an oath that the Wade-Davis Bill required a majority of voters and government officials in Confederate states to take; it involved swearing that they had never supported the Confederacy\r\n\r\n<strong>Ten percent plan:\u00a0<\/strong>Lincoln\u2019s Reconstruction plan, which required only 10 percent of the 1860 voters in Confederate states to take an oath of allegiance to the Union\r\n\r\n<strong>Thirteenth Amendment: <\/strong>provides that \"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"im_orderedlist\">\n<li>Describe Lincoln\u2019s plan to restore the Union at the end of the Civil War<\/li>\n<li>Describe the circumstances and purpose of the Thirteenth Amendment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"timeline\">\n<div style=\"width: 790px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/883\/2015\/08\/23202706\/CNX_History_16_01_Timeline1.jpg\" alt=\"A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln unveils the \u201cten percent plan\u201d; a portrait of Lincoln is shown. In 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinates Lincoln, Congress establishes the Freedmen\u2019s Bureau, and the Thirteenth Amendment is ratified; an illustration of Booth shooting Lincoln in his theater box, as his wife and two guests look on, is shown. In 1867, Radical Republicans pass the Military Reconstruction Act. In 1868, Congress moves to impeach Andrew Johnson, and the Fourteenth Amendment is ratified; a portrait of Johnson and an image of the impeachment resolution signed by the House of Representatives are shown. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment is ratified. In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes defeats Samuel Tilden in a contested presidential election; a photograph of Hayes\u2019s inauguration is shown. In 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ends Reconstruction.\" width=\"780\" height=\"405\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. Major events of the Reconstruction era.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Restoring the Union<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The end of the Civil War saw the beginning of the Reconstruction era, when former rebel Southern states were integrated back into the Union.\u00a0Reconstruction became a tumultuous journey as formerly enslaved freedmen and White southern males hoped to obtain the kind of freedom they wanted. These two groups believed in two different realities, which made freedom hard to define, and led to a tug of war between both groups.\u00a0President Lincoln moved quickly to achieve the war\u2019s ultimate goal: reunification of the country. He proposed a generous and non-punitive plan to return the former Confederate states speedily to the United States, but some Republicans in Congress protested, considering the president\u2019s plan too lenient to the rebel states that had torn the country apart. The greatest flaw of Lincoln\u2019s plan, according to this view, was that it appeared to forgive traitors instead of guaranteeing civil rights to former slaves. President Lincoln oversaw the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, but he did not live to see its ratification.<\/p>\n<section data-depth=\"1\">\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">The President&#8217;s Plan: The Ten Percent Plan<\/h2>\n<p>From the outset of the rebellion in 1861, Lincoln\u2019s overriding goal had been to bring the Southern states quickly back into the fold in order to restore the Union. In early December 1863, the president began the process of reunification by unveiling a three-part proposal known as the <span data-type=\"term\">ten percent plan<\/span> that outlined how the states would return. The ten percent plan gave a general pardon to all Southerners except high-ranking Confederate government and military leaders, required 10 percent of the 1860 voting population in the former rebel states to take a binding oath of future allegiance to the United States and the emancipation of enslaved people, and declared that once those voters took those oaths, the restored Confederate states would draft new state constitutions.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div style=\"width: 595px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/883\/2015\/08\/23202707\/CNX_History_16_01_Lincoln1.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph (a) shows a standing portrait of Lincoln. Cartoon (b), titled \u201cThe \u2018Rail Splitter\u2019 at Work Repairing the Union,\u201d shows Andrew Johnson sitting atop a globe, mending a map of the United States with a needle and thread. Beside him, Lincoln holds the globe in place using a large split rail. Johnson says \u201cTake it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever!!!\u201d Lincoln replies, \u201cA few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended!\u201d\" width=\"585\" height=\"405\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. Thomas Le Mere took this albumen silver print (a) of Abraham Lincoln in April 1863. Le Mere thought a standing pose of Lincoln would be popular. In this political cartoon from 1865 (b), Lincoln and his vice president, Andrew Johnson, endeavor to sew together the torn pieces of the Union.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Lincoln hoped that the leniency of the plan\u201490% of the 1860 voters did not have to swear allegiance to the Union or to emancipation\u2014would bring about a quick and long-anticipated resolution and make emancipation more acceptable everywhere. It should be noted that in this plan, voters would be White males age 21 years old and older. During the Civil War, the South lost 268,000 of these men, which of course could have a significant impact on the voting for this plan.\u00a0This approach appealed to some in the Republican Party, which wanted to put the nation on a speedy course toward reconciliation.\u00a0However, the proposal instantly drew fire from a larger faction of Republicans in Congress who did not want to deal moderately with the South.<\/p>\n<p>There were three factions of the Republican Party at this time:\u00a0the Radical Republicans, the Moderate Republicans, and the Conservative Republicans.\u00a0The\u00a0members of Congress known as Radical Republicans\u00a0wanted to remake the South and punish the rebels. Radical Republicans insisted on harsh terms for the defeated Confederacy and protection for former slaves, going far beyond what the president proposed. They also believed that the slaves&#8217; legal rights should be protected, the Southern leaders should be punished and disenfranchised, the land of the wealthy should be distributed to the Blacks, and that Blacks should obtain suffrage. Conservative Republicans believed in the abolition of slavery but did not believe in imposing punishment on rebellious Southerners and were not as concerned with equality. Moderate Republicans fell between these two groups.<\/p>\n<h3>Ironclad Oath<\/h3>\n<p>In February 1864, two of the Radical Republicans, Ohio senator Benjamin Wade and Maryland representative Henry Winter Davis, countered Lincoln&#8217;s proposal with one of their own.\u00a0Among other stipulations, the Wade-Davis Bill called for a majority of voters and government officials in Confederate states to take an oath, called the <strong>Ironclad Oath,<\/strong>\u00a0swearing that they had never supported the Confederacy or made war against the United States. Those who could not or would not take the oath would be unable to take part in the future political life of the South. The Wade-Davis Bill required that 50 percent of a state\u2019s White males take a loyalty oath to be readmitted to the Union, instead of Lincoln&#8217;s proposed 10%. For this reason, the Wade-Davis bill is also known as the &#8220;50 Percent Plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Congress assented to the Wade-Davis Bill, and it went to Lincoln for his signature. The president refused to sign, using the pocket veto (that is, taking no action after Congress adjourns) to kill the bill. Lincoln understood that no Southern state would have met the criteria of the Wade-Davis Bill, and its passage would simply have delayed the reconstruction of the South.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_d610d290-a7a9-47e5-a2f3-ccedf04e7724\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/d610d290-a7a9-47e5-a2f3-ccedf04e7724?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_d610d290-a7a9-47e5-a2f3-ccedf04e7724\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<h2>The Thirteenth Amendment<\/h2>\n<p>Initially proposed as a war aim, Lincoln\u2019s Emancipation Proclamation committed the United States to the abolition of slavery. However, the proclamation freed only enslaved people in areas of rebellion and left more than seven hundred thousand in bondage in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri as well as in Union-occupied areas of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia.<\/p>\n<h3>The Confiscation Acts and the Emancipation Proclamation<\/h3>\n<p>Congress passed several laws between 1861 and 1863 that aided the growing movement toward emancipation. Despite his concerns that premature attempts at emancipation would weaken his support and entail the loss of crucial border states, Lincoln signed these acts into law. The first of these laws to be implemented was the First Confiscation Act of August 1861, which authorized the confiscation of any Confederate property, including slaves, by Union forces. In March 1862, Congress approved a law enacting an additional article of war, which forbade Union Army officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners. The following month, Congress declared that the federal government would compensate slave owners who freed their slaves. Moderate Republicans accepted Lincoln\u2019s plan for gradual, compensated emancipation, which was put into effect in the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>In June 1862, Congress passed a law enacting emancipation in the federal territories, and in July, passed the Second Confiscation Act, which contained provisions intended to liberate slaves held by rebels. The latter act also declared that any Confederate official, military or civilian, who did not surrender within 60 days of the act\u2019s passage would have his enslaved laborers freed.<\/p>\n<p>In order to increase public support for emancipation, Lincoln strategically chose to associate the Emancipation Proclamation with the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. On September 22 of that year, Lincoln issued a preliminary proclamation that he would order the emancipation of all slaves within all Confederate states that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863. When none of the states returned to the Union by that date, Lincoln honored his proclamation, and the order immediately took effect.<\/p>\n<div class=\"boundless-concept\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignright\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/7330\">\n<div class=\"figure-cont\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite the Confiscation Acts and the\u00a01863\u00a0Emancipation Proclamation, the legal status of enslaved people and the institution of slavery remained unresolved.\u00a0Since these were wartime acts, once the war was over, these people could be put back into bondage.\u00a0To deal with the remaining uncertainties, the Republican Party made the abolition of slavery a top priority by including the issue in its 1864 party platform. The platform read: \u201cThat as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of Republican Government, justice and the National safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the Republic; and that, while we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defense, has aimed a deathblow at this gigantic evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of Slavery within the limits of the jurisdiction of the United States.\u201d The platform left no doubt about the intention to abolish slavery.<\/p>\n<p>The president, along with the Radical Republicans, made good on this campaign promise in 1864 and 1865. A proposed constitutional amendment passed the Senate in April 1864, and the House of Representatives concurred in January 1865. The first amendment added to the Constitution since 1804, it overturned a centuries-old practice by permanently abolishing slavery. The <strong>Thirteenth Amendment<\/strong> legally abolished slavery \u201cexcept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.\u201d Section Two of the amendment granted Congress the \u201cpower to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.\u201d State ratification followed, and by the end of the year (December 1865) the requisite three-fourths of the states had approved the amendment, and four million people were forever free from the slavery that had existed in North America for 250 years.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Dig Deeper: the 13th Amendment<\/h3>\n<h4>The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution<\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">AMENDMENT XIII<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Section 1.<br \/>\nNeither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Section 2.<br \/>\nCongress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"smalltext\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><i>Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Many people today believe that the 13th amendment&#8217;s sole focus was freeing the slaves after the Civil War. However, its importance has long-reaching ramifications even today dealing with current issues, including penal labor and hate crimes. The clause in the amendment that says &#8220;except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted&#8221; has been used as justification for penal labor, or requiring prisoners to work. This &#8220;loophole&#8221; in the 13th Amendment is still used today to permit labor from prisoners, but it was especially problematic during Reconstruction because Black Codes designed to target and criminalize Blacks led to larger percentages of imprisoned Blacks who were forced back into slave labor. For example, the inability to pay fees for vagrancy crimes resulted in imprisonment, during which prisoners labored in the very same wage-free positions held by slaves less than two years prior.<\/p>\n<p>Between 1866 and 1869, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida became the first states in the U.S. to lease out convicts. Previously responsible for the housing and feeding of the new prison labor force, the states developed a convict leasing system as a means to rid penitentiaries of the responsibility to care for the incarcerated population. State governments maximized profits by putting the responsibility on the lessee to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care for the prisoners. Convict labor strayed from small-scale plantation and sharecrop harvesting and moved toward work in the private sector. States leased out convicts to private businesses that utilized the low-cost labor to run enterprises such as coal mines, railroads, and logging companies. Private lessees were permitted to use prisoner labor with very little oversight. This resulted in extremely poor conditions and inadequacy of necessities like food, water, and shelter, often exacerbated by unsafe labor practices and inhuman discipline. This cheap labor supply from convicts aided the southern economy&#8217;s return from wartime devastation.<\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/12\/03\/942413221\/democrats-push-abolition-amendment-to-fully-erase-slavery-from-u-s-constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020 NPR Article<\/a> offers more insight on the interpretation of the 13th amendment regarding penal labor, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HBEvEr_UtYA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this BigThink video<\/a> discusses this issue in a modern light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 473px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/883\/2015\/08\/23202708\/CNX_History_16_01_Assassinat1.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration shows John Wilkes Booth shooting Lincoln in the back of the head as he sits in the theater box with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests, Major Henry R. Rathbone and Clara Harris. Rathbone stands and points at Booth as the women look on in horror.\" width=\"463\" height=\"350\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong>. In The Assassination of President Lincoln (1865), by Currier and Ives, John Wilkes Booth shoots Lincoln in the back of the head as he sits in the theater box with his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and their guests, Major Henry R. Rathbone and Clara Harris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>President Lincoln never saw the final ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. On April 14, 1865, the Confederate supporter and well-known actor John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln while he was attending a play, <em data-effect=\"italics\">Our American Cousin<\/em>, at Ford\u2019s Theater in Washington. The president died the next day. Booth had steadfastly defended the Confederacy and White supremacy, and his act was part of a larger conspiracy to eliminate the heads of the Union government and keep the Confederate fight going. One of Booth\u2019s associates stabbed and wounded Secretary of State William Seward the night of the assassination. Another associate abandoned the planned assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson at the last moment. Although Booth initially escaped capture, Union troops shot and killed him on April 26, 1865, in a Maryland barn. Eight other conspirators were convicted by a military tribunal for participating in the conspiracy, and four were hanged. Lincoln\u2019s death earned him immediate martyrdom, and hysteria spread throughout the North. To many Northerners, the assassination suggested an even greater conspiracy than what was revealed, masterminded by the unrepentant leaders of the defeated Confederacy. Militant Republicans would use and exploit this fear relentlessly in the ensuing months.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p>Learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/millercenter.org\/president\/lincoln\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lincoln&#8217;s Presidency on the Miller Center website<\/a> or explore a comprehensive collection of documents, images, and ephemera related to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/rr\/program\/bib\/presidents\/lincoln\/related.html?loclr=blogpoe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Abraham Lincoln on the Library of Congress website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\n<h3>Review Question<\/h3>\n<p>What was the purpose of the Thirteenth Amendment? How was it different from the Emancipation Proclamation?<\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q250350\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q250350\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">The Thirteenth Amendment officially and permanently banned the institution of slavery in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation had freed only those slaves in rebellious states, leaving many slaves\u2014most notably, those in the border states\u2014in bondage; furthermore, it did not alter or prohibit the institution of slavery in general.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_d0aaf6f2-0e28-469a-bcf3-dcd99ac5b635\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/d0aaf6f2-0e28-469a-bcf3-dcd99ac5b635?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_d0aaf6f2-0e28-469a-bcf3-dcd99ac5b635\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Ironclad Oath:\u00a0<\/strong>an oath that the Wade-Davis Bill required a majority of voters and government officials in Confederate states to take; it involved swearing that they had never supported the Confederacy<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ten percent plan:\u00a0<\/strong>Lincoln\u2019s Reconstruction plan, which required only 10 percent of the 1860 voters in Confederate states to take an oath of allegiance to the Union<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thirteenth Amendment: <\/strong>provides that &#8220;Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-484\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Richard Zollars for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>US History. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/16-1-restoring-the-union\">https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/16-1-restoring-the-union<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>The Politics of Reconstruction. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The American Yawp. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/15-reconstruction\/#VI_Economic_Development_during_the_Civil_War_and_Reconstruction\">https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/15-reconstruction\/#VI_Economic_Development_during_the_Civil_War_and_Reconstruction<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Penal labor in the United States. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States#Prison_Labor_Post-13th_Amendment_(1865%E2%80%931866)\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States#Prison_Labor_Post-13th_Amendment_(1865%E2%80%931866)<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Thirteenth Amendment. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Government During the War. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Boundless. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-ushistory\/chapter\/government-during-the-war\/\">https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-ushistory\/chapter\/government-during-the-war\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":969,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"US History\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/16-1-restoring-the-union\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Politics of Reconstruction\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"The American Yawp\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/15-reconstruction\/#VI_Economic_Development_during_the_Civil_War_and_Reconstruction\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Penal labor in the United 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