Counterfactual

Counterfactual Project

• John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 at the Ford Theater
• Booth escaped, but was eventually trapped in a VA tobacco barn
• Later, a shot was heard - it is unclear whether Booth or the Calvary, who had been searching for him, fired - and Booth was killed

• Rage throughout the nation
• A huge manhunt for Booth, along with a $100,000 reward (over $1,000,000 today)
• The US was in an extremely fragile state
• The Southern realization that if Lincoln had lived, reconstruction could have worked out much better for them
• This happened because the US was already delicate since it was fighting a civil war, and had never experienced an assassinated President before
• Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, implemented a plan of reconstruction in the country

• If Lincoln had not been assassinated and had lived to finish his second term as President, reconstruction may have worked out differently for the South
• The change we are making to history: Booth never shoots Lincoln, so Lincoln's plan of reconstruction is implemented throughout the country

Works Cited

The Real Results

How did Lincoln Die?

What's Changing?

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

• Andrew Johnson got his plan for reconstruction passed
• Underlying feelings of bitterness and anger towards the South were noticed in the plan
• Johnson's plan demanded the South to nullify their secessions, hold state conventions, adopt the 13th Amendment, and reelect Congressmen

The 10% Plan

The Impacts

• Southern states held conventions that repealed secession ordinances
• Also abolished slavery
• All southern states, except South Carolina, repudiated Confederate debts
• Newly established legislatures, except Mississippi's, ratified the 13th Amendment
• By the end of 1865, all southern states, except Texas, had reestablished a civil government

• Ten percent of people who had voted in the 1860 election were to take a pledge of loyalty to the Union
• Harsh oppositions towards this plan from radical Republicans in Congress, who viewed the South as conquered territory and thought Lincoln's plan was "too soft"
• In return, Republicans tried to pass the Wade-Davis Bill: a majority of the South would have to take an ironclad oath that they had never supported the Confederacy
• This bill was vetoed by Lincoln shortly before he was killed

• "The Aftermath of the Lincoln Assassination" http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincoln/videos/lincoln-after-the-assassination
• "Abraham Lincoln Assassinated: Reconstruction Plans Never Instituted" http://learningabe.info/Lincolnsreconstruction.html
• "Johnson's Plan" http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/reconstruction-johnson- plan.html
• "How might History have been Different had Lincoln Lived?" http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-might-history-have-been- different-had-lin-398836

Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction

Possible Impacts of Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan

• A smoother transition for southerners who had owned slaves
• Future setbacks like the KKK and the Jim Crow Laws may not have reached the heights that they did
• Lincoln could have served more terms, which would have helped southern states with an easier reintroduction to the US

Reconstruction Under Lincoln