Question

What was President Lincoln’s attitude toward Reconstruction?

Answer 1

Presidential aide William O. Stoddard remembered President Abraham Lincoln in September 1864 calling Stoddard to Lincoln’s bedroom to say goodbye before Stoddard left to become U.S. marshal for Arkansas: “The President lay on a sofa, apparently very weary, but received me in a most fatherly way. He expressed his strong good wishes for my success in my new career, for the restoration of my health, and so forth. Then he talked about the future of Arkansas, the Rebel States, and of the colored people.” According to Stoddard, President Lincoln concluded the conversation by saying: “The war is nearly over. Just when it will end, I can’t say. But it won’t be a great while. Then the Government forces must all be withdrawn from all the Southern states. Sooner or later, we must take them all away. Now, what I want you to do is this: do all you can, in any and every way you can, to get the ballot into the hands of the freedmen. We must make voters of them before we take away the troops. The ballot will be their only protection after the bayonet is gone, and they will be sure to need all they can get