Following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the views of Johnson on reconstruction mattered a great deal for most of the American citizens. Most people did not know whether Johnson would decide to follow the moderate approach of Lincoln in addressing reconciliation, if he would support the limited black suffrage or if he would go with the radical republican views of being punitive and harsh towards the southerners.
Johnson believed that the southerners were capable of deciding what was right for them. He, however, felt that African Americans could not manage their lives and that they did not deserve to vote. Johnson gave amnesty and pardon to many people. He returned a lot of property except the slaves to the former Confederates who had initially agreed to be loyal to the union and supported the 13th amendment (McKitrick, 1988). The officials of confederate estate owners were required to apply for a pardon from the president individually. Most of the former Confederate officials were given back power while some of them regained their congressional positions.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The vision of Johnson regarding reconstruction proved to be lenient. Few of the Confederate officials were prosecuted. By the year 1866, Johnson had granted seven thousand presidential pardons (Beale, 1958). Dominant whites still subjugated the freed slaves through harsh laws otherwise known as black codes. African Americans were frequently beaten. Some states needed evidence of employment, or they would make the freed slaves work on plantations. Even so, Andrew Johnson was not successful with his reconstruction interpretation. Though the Republicans and the northerners initially supported the policies of Johnson, there was no agreement as to what the rights of the African American received (Stewart, 2010). A group of radical Republicans believed that the rights which were promised in the Declaration of Independence should be extended to the former slaves and all free men (Foner, 2014). The liberal Republicans did not want the Confederate states to reenter the union so smoothly and quick. They were also disturbed by the reluctant abolition of slavery in the south.
References
Beale, H. K. (1958). The critical year: a study of Andrew Johnson and reconstruction . Ungar Pub Co.
Foner, E. (2014). Reconstruction Updated Edition: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 . Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
McKitrick, E. L. (1988). Andrew Johnson and reconstruction . Oxford University Press on Demand.
Stewart, D. O. (2010). Impeached: The trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's legacy . Simon and Schuster.
