Reconstruction Case

From before the start of the Civil War in 1860 to the end of Reconstruction in 1877, a revolution had occurred in the United States of America with constitutional and social developments. The Revolution was a drastic change that had to occur to make the nation stronger even if some of the effects were harsh during time. Some constitutional developments were the Civil Rights Acts and the secession of The South. Some social developments were the formation of the Ku Klux Klan and the Freedman's Bureau.

The United States of America had been already split prior to 1860, each side wanting more power. Both the slave states of the South and the free states of the North were competing for control of congress. To prevent any conflict or feud going too far numerous compromises were established such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 many of which were composed by The Great Compromiser, Henry Clay. However these compromises could not prevent the inevitable of war, which started with the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. Lincoln despised the institution of slavery, but was willing allow it to exist in order to preserve the Union. After Lincoln's inauguration in 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union stating that they had the right through the tenth amendment and the through the powers reserved to the states (Document A). Ten more southern states followed because they believed that The North's power would exceed their own and abolish slavery, leaving them no choice, but to seceded. These states formed the Confederate States of America, establishing a constitution similar to The Articles of Confederation. This would lead to the American Civil War that would last for four long and bloody years. However the Civil War would bring an end to slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation that would free all the slaves in the Confederate States and later in the rest of the states with the Thirteenth Amendment. It would also be the start of a constitutional and social revolution in America.

The Civil War ended in 1865 when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse to Ulysses S. Grant. The social and constitutional revolution continued when Reconstruction began. A social development occurred when Union leaders were debating on the terms and conditions that would allow the rebel states to be reinstated back into the Union. Lincoln and the Moderate Republicans wanted to pass the Ten Percent Plan which said that only ten percent of a state had to take an oath to the Union and acknowledge the end of slavery. The radical republicans wanted to pass the Wade-Davis Bill which said that fifty percent of the state's population had to take an oath to the Union, but Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill. After Lincoln's assassination, the Vice President Andrew Johnson took over as president and changed Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan. Johnson decided to all