Lincoln Reconstruction Plan
After the war was over, there were many things wrong with the United States of America that Lincoln had to fix. The things had happened because of Sherman going to the South and destroying everything in his way. So, the states were in a lot of debt trying to fix everything again. Not only that, but alot of people were sick, dying, and couldn't work. Sherman also destroyed most farms in the south so they were running low on food, too. On top of that all of the freed slaves that there were, weren't doing very well. They were homeless, uneducated, had no property, many were hungry, and they were free for the first time so they didn't know exactly what to do with themselves. The whites weren't making it any easier. They were so used to treating the blacks terribly and all of a sudden, they had to learn to treat them like actual people. So many slaves became sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Then, in order to help the freed slaves, Congress created the Freedmen's Bureau. This states that Congress would help the freed slaves and poor whites with the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. The purpose then shifted to education. It helped them with as much as Congress could help them with. In order to clean up the mess, Lincoln created his own Reconstruction Plan. In his plan, he stated that Southerners would be pardoned after taking the oath of allegiance to the Union. Then, once 10% of that state had taken the oath, that state could rejoin the Union to make a state goverment. After President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, new President Andrew Johnson changed up the plan due to thinking that Lincoln was being too nice to the south. In the changes, he stated that all Southern states must approve the 13th admendment, which basically abolishes slavery. He said that he would nullify their ordinances of seccesion, and he made them promise to repay the money borrowed during the war.They had to do all these things in addition to all of the stuff Lincoln made them do.