President Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan was intended to quickly readmit Southern states back into the Union without malice. As long as 10% of a state's voters swore an oath of allegiance to the United States, they could form a new government.
After his murder in 1865, Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, sought to reconstitute the Union quickly, pardoning Southerners en masse and providing Southern states with a clear path back to readmission. By 1866, Johnson announced the end of Reconstruction.
