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Who Was Responsible for the Extreme Violence During the Reconstruction Era

501 bytes removed, 16:39, 17 November 2016
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Abraham Lincoln was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States on Saturday, March 4, 1865. A mere six weeks hence, he, along with his message of a peaceful reunification were to die. The President's brief inaugural address foreshadowed the coming end to the Civil War. With his words he sedately emphasized that in order to successfully restore the Union to a bonded nation, peaceful heads had to prevail. When Lincoln presented his address, the war was being fought more fiercely than ever before. Lincoln wanted the fighting to stop and the process of reunification to begin. He invoked the Almighty when he said, "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away."<ref>Abraham Lincoln, "Second Inaugural Address," ''Library of Congress''https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=38&page=transcript.</ref>
While Vice President Andrew Johnson wanted the South to be punished for rebelling, Lincoln had the wisdom to understand that severe consequences would only divide the nation further. His closing remarks offer a glimpse into what was possible had Lincoln lived:
"''With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.''"
Ironically, Andrew Johnson was a staunch, southern Democrat yet he was outspoken in his belief that the states which seceded had to suffer the consequence of their actions; whereas Lincoln, the first Republican President who reached the Executive Mansion via Illinois, offered the more logical and forgiving attitude. When Robert E. Lee surrender the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant on April 09, 1865, Lincoln ordered that generous terms be given to the Rebels. Grant then ordered his soldiers at Appomattox Court House to give rations to the hungry Southern soldiers and show respect when they stacked their arms. Once they signed an oath of loyalty to the Union, the Confederate men were allowed to keep their rifles and horses and simply return to their homes. Like his generals, Lincoln understood the importance of "a hard war and a gentle peace."
== Conclusion ==
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