The Loyalty Oath during the Civil War

[Anita]

When I first posted the question "how effective was the oath?" I was thinking about it mostly in terms of military use re: spies and saboteurs during the war. Wild Bill I now see that it was extremely effective as a political tool and had a huge impact during reconstruction.

I'm also fuzzy on how far Lincoln's vision for reconstruction was actually documented and the key players he counted on to make it possible. I see I will have to fill gaps in my education. I don't enough about the reconstruction era, not just constitutionally but in terms of implementation.