Examine the cartoon and read the annotation. Then respond with a brief essay giving your personal reaction to Johnson's approach to Reconstruction. Present at least three specific points in your analysis.

answer:

Congress reacted sharply to this proclamation of Lincoln’s plan. Most moderate Republicans in Congress supported the president’s proposal for Reconstruction because they wanted to bring a swift end to the war, but other Republicans feared that the planter aristocracy would be restored and the blacks would be forced back into slavery.

The Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln’s plan because they thought it too lenient toward the South. Radical Republicans believed that Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was not harsh enough because, from their point of view, the South was guilty of starting the war and deserved to be punished as such. Radical Republicans hoped to control the Reconstruction process, transform Southern society, disband the planter aristocracy, redistribute land, develop industry, and guarantee civil liberties for former slaves.

“Running the ‘Machine.'”: An 1864 political cartoon—featuring William Fessenden, Edwin Stanton, William Seward, Gideon Welles, Lincoln, and others—takes a swing at Lincoln’s administration.

Although the Radical Republicans were the minority party in Congress, they managed to sway many moderates in the postwar years and came to dominate Congress in later sessions. In the summer of 1864, the Radical Republicans passed a new bill to counter the plan, known as the “Wade-Davis Bill.” As opposed to Lincoln’s plan, this new bill would make readmission into the Union more difficult. The bill stated that for a state to be readmitted, the majority of the state would have to take a loyalty oath, not just ten percent. Lincoln later pocket vetoed this new bill.