Harrison Lee Period 1 CTW Chapter 16 4/11/13 After the American Civil War, the Union worked to rebuild

the decimated South. Through the various reconstruction plans politicians had in mind at the time, the South was molded by the disputes and varying views on how it should be reformed. Through plans such as Lincolns and Johnsons as well as the Fourteenth Amendment, Reconstruction brought about a great topic of debate, and ultimately led to the gradual giving up of the situation. Created to address the issue concerning anti-black violence in the South, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States. This included African Americans. The second and third sections of the amendment also prohibited former Confederate leaders from holding state and federal office. The second section, in addition, dealt with Congressional representation in the south. This had a lot to do with African Americans, because the debate of granting blacks the right to vote or not would have a great impact on how the South would be represented in Congress. Due to the lack of the three-fifths clause, enfranchising black men would increase Southern representation while disenfranchising them would result in the opposite. Although the Reconstruction Era was said to have ended in 1877 when Hayes was elected into office, the drive for Reconstruction waned not long after the Reconstruction Plans of Lincoln and Johnson. Known as the Goldilocks Plan for its easiness, Lincolns Plan required only for an acceptance of the emancipation of slaves and reestablishment of state government as long as ten percent of the state voters took a loyalty oath. On the other hand, the Wade Davis Bill of 1864 required fifty percent of voters to take a loyalty oath and allowed only non-Confederates to do the voting. Lincolns Ten Percent Plan was never really put into action due to his untimely death. Johnsons plan was anticipated to be harsher than Lincolns because of his apparent hatred for the Confederate leaders. However, Johnsons plan was little different than Lincolns, only adding the disenfranchisement of former Confederates as an extra. Plus Johnson was able to grant pardons to some disloyal southerners. This escape clause resulted in the reinstallation of former Confederate leaders into office by the end of 1865, only a year after the Civil War. It is evident that not long after the Civil War, issues toward Reconstruction ultimately caused the failure of a successful reconstruction of the South. With Confederate leaders back into power within a year, it would become increasingly difficult and pointless to continue trying to take control over the area. Although Reconstruction acts continued to be passed for over a decade, people had already begun to lose interest in Reconstruction years before Hayes became president. Therefore, Reconstruction actually ended years before the Hayess Compromise of 1877.