If Lincoln had not died

[Rob Wick]

(01-09-2013 12:21 PM)My Name Is Kate Wrote:  I guess I didn't express what I meant very well, and I didn't intend to lay all the blame at Lincoln's feet, for the liberties that some subsequent presidents/politicians took to further agendas that the majority of Americans did not necessarily agree with. I wonder if it ever crossed Lincoln's mind what an influence and role model he might become for other presidents.

Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

Best
Rob

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(01-09-2013 12:53 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote:  Again, I am not a Lincoln scholar; but how do we know exactly what Lincoln had planned for Reconstruction policies farther in the future than "let them up easy?"

Surely, there had been Cabinet discussions on more than the 13th Amendment?? Are there any written records projecting what was supposed to be implemented once the celebration of the war's end was over?

I think there are two different questions here. The first is what did Lincoln want to do and second is what could he reasonably expect to accomplish.

As for the first, I think his 10 percent plan makes more sense than just about any other. Earlier, Bill pointed out his view that Lincoln was flexible enough to consider the Wade-Davis bill, which I guess if you define flexibility as pocket-vetoing it, then maybe I might agree. It doesn't seem reasonable that Lincoln would offer the 10 percent plan to some states and then post-bellum decide that another, more stringent, plan would be required for other states.

As to what he could expect to get accomplished, therein lies the rub. If he pushed hard for the 10 percent plan would he have had enough power to overcome the obvious objections of the radicals? I think so. Even if it required all the sagacity and political skill Lincoln had to muster, he would have been in a far better position than Johnson ever was. I've said it several times before--the greatest thing Lincoln had over Johnson was that he was not Johnson, with all that encompassed. I wrote a review for the current Lincoln Herald on Paul Bergeron's book, Andrew Johnson's Civil War and Reconstruction, and one thing I pointed out is that even though both had similar hardscrabble backgrounds, Lincoln took his and turned it into empathy and consideration while for Johnson it became hatred and loathing. That would have made a difference in the negotiations.

Best
Rob