427-428.]

437. Lincoln's Reconstruction Policy.--The great question now
before the country was what should be done with the Southern states and
people. And what should be done with the freedmen? On these questions
people were not agreed. Some people thought that the states were
"indestructible"; that they could not secede or get out of the Union.
Others thought that the Southern states had been conquered and should be
treated as a part of the national domain. Lincoln thought that it was
useless to go into these questions. The Southern states were out of the
"proper practical relations with the Union." That was clear enough. The
thing to do, therefore, was to restore "proper practical relations" as
quickly and as quietly as possible. In December, 1863, Lincoln had
offered a pardon to all persons, with some exceptions, who should take
the oath of allegiance to the United States, and should promise to
support the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation. Whenever
one-tenth of the voters in any of the Confederate states should do these
things, and should set up a republican form of government, Lincoln
promised to recognize that government as the state government. But the
admission to Congress of Senators and Representatives from such a
reconstructed state would rest with Congress. Several states were
reconstructed on this plan. But public opinion was opposed to this quiet
reorganization of the seceded states. The people trusted Lincoln,
however, and had he lived he might have induced them to accept his plan.

[Sidenote: Andrew Johnson President, 1865.]

[Sidenote: His ideas on reconstruction. _McMaster_, 428.]

438. President Johnson's Reconstruction Plan.--Johnson was an able
man and a patriot. But he had none of Lincoln's wise patience. He had
none of Lincoln's tact and humor in dealing with men. On the contrary,
he always lost his temper when opposed. Although he was a Southerner, he
hated slavery and slave owners. On the other hand, he had a Southerner's
contempt for the negroes. He practically adopted Lincoln's
reconstruction policy and tried to bring about the reorganization of the
seceded states by presidential action.

[Sidenote: Force of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.]

[Sidenote: Abolition of slavery, 1865.]

439. The Thirteenth Amendment, 1865.--President Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation (p. 331) had freed the slaves in those states
and parts of states which were in rebellion against the na