Abraham Lincoln's Assassination And Radical Reconstruction

Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice” (Abraham Lincoln Quotes article title). When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated the nation was affected in many ways. The union and confederates did not known how to get the nation back together. Two ways that Lincoln's assassination affected the nation was that the original plan for reconstruction changed and his death created a larger time period of racism, segregation, and discrimination.

If Lincoln had survived, his plans for reconstruction would have been successful. Instead, his death led to an open spot for someone else to take over and make those decisions. Of course Andrew Johnson would take over since he was vice president at that time. Radical Republicans saw that there was a way to punish those who rebelled against the Union. The plan was used after President Johnson was impeached. The Radical Republicans created a plan that was very extreme. Radical Reconstruction was a imperfect plan because it was too harsh to the South. The group made a change in the south causing resentment that would be seen later in the future. The main thing that they wanted was to destroy the political power of former confederate loyalists. The Radical Republicans also wanted African Americans to get a complete right to vote. Then these people then went to the south with the feeling of helping the cause, but some of them just only wanted to use the South’s postwar confusion. All these events then led to a great attempt in
In conclusion, two ways that Lincoln's assassination affected the nation was that the original plan for reconstruction changed and his death created a larger time period of racism, segregation, and