In 1865, President Lincoln’s last speech introduced his plan of Reconstruction for the US after the Civil War. Specifically, Lincoln addressed the state of Louisiana, which was the first former Confederate state to agree to the terms of Lincoln’s Reconstruction.
Lincoln was a man focused on reforming the Union and bringing the nation back together. This is reflected in his previous 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, by freeing slaves in Southern states to persuade the Confederate states to rejoin the Union. His efforts to continue the Reconstruction of the Union is reflected in his last speech. Interestingly, rather than addressing specifics of the Reconstruction plan, Lincoln’s speech emphasized that one should simply not acknowledge the previous existence of the Confederacy. Lincoln claimed that rather than acknowledging the prior separation, his plan for Reconstruction would run more smoothly without considering if states were in or out of the Union. This idea is highlighted in his statement, “Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad”(par. 4). Lincoln believed that to fully restore relations between the states it was simply easier to not acknowledge that they were ever separated.
Shortly after his Reconstruction speech, Lincoln was assassinated and was unable to watch his Reconstruction plans unfold, however, his successor, Andrew Johnson, attempted to carry on Lincoln’s Reconstruction plans. Johnson worked toward continuing the plans for Reconstruction, but under his presidency the creation of ‘black codes’ and black violence and “fear mongering” was extreme in Southern states. Lincoln may have wished that the states would not acknowledge the divide of Confederacy and Union, but the separation was distinct and visible during the Reconstruction era.