Many people have said that the Reconstruction era did not go over well and basically failed. There were 3 different plans for reconstructing the United States after the Civil War. The 3 plans were called Lincoln’s plan of Reconstruction, the Radical Reconstruction plan and Johnson's plan.
Abraham Lincoln had a plan for Reconstruction also known as the ‘Ten-Percent Plan’. Abraham Lincoln was the president during the Reconstruction period until he was assassinated in 1865. Abraham Lincoln had a goal of having the south rejoin with no trouble. Lincoln was more lenient in his plan and was not as harsh with the rules. He wanted it to go smooth and easily. He also had a goal of abolishing slavery and he wanted freedom. He also wanted 10% of people to take what he considered to be a loyalty oath. Higher up officials and military officials would not be included in the oath or any pardons included in it.
Andrew Johnson took over the presidency after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. He was impeached in 1868 and was found not guilty. He had his own reconstruction plan also known as the Presidential Reconstruction. Andrew Johnson thought that Reconstruction was unnecessary and he did not have the same type of communication skills that Abraham Lincoln had. Andrew Johnson's plan followed closely to Abraham Lincolns. In Johnson's plan, there would be pardons for taking loyalty oaths, but they would not be available to higher officials or people owning land worth 20,000 dollars.
The last plan was called the Radical Reconstruction plan. They believed that whites and blacks were equal and deserved to have all the same opportunities. The radicals were determined to get back at the South because they were partially to blame for the start of the war. They wanted a national banking system and they wanted to make sure that everyone had a right to vote. They stated that each state had to accept the 14th Amendment.
In the end, Reconstruction failed in many ways and it succeeded in other ways. Confederacy was destroyed because of Reconstruction and every state was rejoined to the union. African Americans started to gain more freedom and some were even appointed to government positions. Groups like the KKK were downsides of Reconstruction. Some of the people that were originally part of the confederacy began to undo some of the successes that Reconstruction had reached. William Harvard Taft served in the executive and judicial branches of government. He also served as Chief Justice of the United States. Upton Sinclair wrote ‘The Jungle’ to show the world what was truly happening in the meat packing world.