Question

Identify the controversy in lincolns plan as illustrated by the wade-davis bill. What does this reveal about northern-southern relations?

Answer 1

The Wade-Davis bill, questioned Lincoln in his ideas that the southern states needed to return to the Union, because for Lincoln, the Constitution did not give permission to the southern states to separate. Lincoln was also accused of being very gentle with the rebel states, in order to win voters in the South, and because he wanted his political ideas to spread throughout the south. Rep. Henry Winter Davis, said Lincoln would use Reconstruction to use Southern voters in their own ambitions, and gain control of the Congress. Even so, Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill and signed his Ten-Percent Plan, despite claims that the president should only obey and execute, not make his own laws.