#OTD in 1864 the House passed the Wade-Davis Reconstruction bill. The House version of the bill was written by Rep. Henry Davis of Maryland. By this time Congress attempted to preemptively take control of post-war policy, creating a rift with President Lincoln.
Lincoln issued the "Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction" on December 8, 1863. It required only 10 percent of a seceding state's population to take an oath of loyalty before a new state government could be formed. These states would also be required to abolish slavery.
Radical Republicans in Congress felt Lincoln's plan was too lenient and began crafting legislation of their own to address the issue. They asserted that Confederate states were not states, but conquered territory. Lincoln maintained that those states never legally seceded.
The Wade-Davis bill required 50 percent of a state's citizens to declare a loyalty oath before they could be readmitted to the Union. States also had to abolish slavery. Furthermore, former Confederate officials and veterans would not be allowed to vote.
Lincoln feared this approach could force Union slave states to join the Confederacy and ruin any potential post-war political coalition between the North and South. Radical Republicans disagreed, arguing that Confederate states forfeited political inclusion through secession.
The bill passed the Senate as well but was ultimately defeated when Lincoln blocked it by a pocket veto. After Lincoln's assassination, President Johnson carried out lenient policies more in line with Lincoln's Reconstruction policy, ultimately leading to his impeachment.
Once the Radical Republicans wrestled power from Johnson they brought forth an era of Radical Reconstruction and implemented military rule in the South to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments and barred former high ranking Confederate officials form voting or holding office.

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More from @TheCivilWarDoc1

May 3
Last night at the Met Gala, Sarah Jessica Parker wore a dress designed in homage to Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley. Keckley was the first Black female fashion designer to work in the White House. She was First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker. Here is a thread about her life. Image
Keckley was born an enslaved woman in Dinwiddie County, Virginia in February of 1818. As a child she worked with her mother as a house servant for Colonel Armistead Burwell and took care of his infant child. Burwell was also Keckley's biological father. Image
Keckley was routinely subject to severe physical punishment under the orders of Burwell's wife. Keckley remembered the first time she was whipped and wrote, "The blows were not administered with a light hand, I assure you, and doubtless the severity of the lashing has made..." Image
Read 17 tweets
May 2
#OTD in 1865 President Andrew Johnson put out a reward of $100,000 dollars (Approximately $2 million in today's money) for the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Davis and a small group of close advisors had fled Richmond in early April. Image
They initially fled to Danville, Virginia but had to quickly leave because the Union Army was hot on their tail. They arrived in the town of Washington, Georgia in Wilkes County of May 3rd. He held his last meeting the next day. Image
Davis reunited with his family on May 7th and they arrived in Abbeville on May 8th. During this time, it was believed by the United States Government that Davis played a role in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Image
Read 9 tweets
Feb 18
#OTD in 1865 Charleston, South Carolina Mayor Charles Macbeth surrendered the city to Lieutenant Colonel A.G. Bennett of the 21st United States Colored Troops. The city had been under siege since the summer of 1863 and its harbor contained Ft. Sumter, where the war began.
Confederate General Beauregard ordered the evacuation three days earlier, nearly four years after he commanded the initial assault of Ft. Sumter in April, 1861. By the afternoon a company of the 54th Mass. (USCT) was helping to extinguish the flames set by the retreating rebels.
Many of the first Union soldiers to enter Charleston were from the USCT and they left a wake of liberation for Black Charlestonians who were legally enslaved the day prior. Days later the 55th Mass. (USCT) walked the streets of downtown singing "John Brown's Body."
Read 7 tweets
Feb 16
#OTD in 1884 the Chicago Tribune reported on Senate hearings regarding the Danville Massacre in Virginia. The massacre took place on November 3, 1883. The Chicago Tribune’s reporting highlights the tension between white Democrats, Black Republicans and voting at the time. Image
The Danville Massacre (also referred to as the Danville Race Riot) was a violent white backlash to bi-racial democracy in Virginia during the Readjuster movement. The Readjuster Party supported legislation to help alleviate the state's debt incurred during the Civil War.
Danville had thriving majority Black population by the 1880s. Many whites in the area described Black political power as "Negro rule." The Tribune's report quoted a white witness who stated that the Readjusters imposed "the worst rule any people were ever cursed with."
Read 17 tweets
Feb 1
February 1st marks the beginning of #BlackHistoryMonth and we will be dedicating much of our #OTD posts to Black history throughout the 19th century, particularly during the Civil War Era. You can read about the origins of Black History Month here: asalh.org/about-us/origi…
With that said, #OnThisDay in 1865, Dr. John Rock became the first African American admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court. This occurred the same day President Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment. #History #HistoryMatters #USHistory #AmericanHistory
John Rock lived an extraordinary life. He was a teacher, a prolific abolitionist writer and speaker, a dentist, medical doctor, and lawyer. Rock was born a free man in New Jersey in 1825 and became a teacher at age 19 while studying medicine. #Abolitionist #Teacher
Read 10 tweets
Jan 31
#OTD in 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment passed the House of Representatives, sending it to the states for ratification. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States “…except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
The amendment ended race-based chattel slavery in America, but did not rid the nation of forced labor, which exists through America’s prison system today. #13thAmendment #Constitution #slavery #HistoryMatters #CivilWar #USCivilWar #AmericanCivilWar #PoliticalHistory #knowhistory
Congress abolished slavery in Washington D.C. in 1862. The Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery in rebelling states Jan. 1, 1863 and former rebel states were forced to ban slavery in new state constitutions. Republicans in Congress still wanted a Constitutional Amendment.
Read 9 tweets

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