USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Believed secession from the Union was illegal. His reconstruction plan called for reconciliation. Preservation of the Union was more important than punishing the South.

Detailed explanation-2: -Abraham Lincoln believed that preserving (saving) the nation was more important than punishing the South for seceding. Lincoln’s reconstruction plan called for reconciliation between the North and the South. But how would states come back into the Union?

Detailed explanation-3: -For Lincoln, the task was always to preserve the Union. In his first inaugural address, Lincoln said, “Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.”

Detailed explanation-4: -Lincoln’s Vision for Reconstruction Unlike Radical Republicans in Congress, Lincoln did not want to punish southerners or reorganize southern society.

Detailed explanation-5: -Lincoln himself had a flexible and pragmatic approach to Reconstruction, insisting only that the Southerners, when defeated, pledge future loyalty to the Union and emancipate their enslaved persons. As the Southern states were subdued, he appointed military governors to supervise their restoration.